Geneva. In the first phase of the three-day polio vaccination campaign, 187,000 children of the Gaza Strip were vaccinated. All the children vaccinated were under 10 years of age. This information was given by the United Nations. The UN Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA) said that now this campaign will start in the southern region of Gaza for three days from Thursday, after which it will run in the northern region. The target is to give two doses of the vaccine (each dose at an interval of four weeks) to more than 640,000 children.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said health workers have vaccinated 187,000 children so far. The campaign was launched after a 10-month-old child was partially paralyzed by polio, OCHA said. 510 teams were deployed in central Gaza to make the vaccination campaign a success. 40 health partners are participating in it. 17 health care centers are conducting vaccinations and 23 are providing information to communities about the campaign.
It is noteworthy that vaccination is being done despite the ongoing fighting in Gaza. The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry has said that 42 people have been killed in the last 24 hours and 40,861 people have died since the war began. Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN’s main agency for Palestinian refugees, wrote, “Great progress! Every day, more and more children are getting vaccinated against polio in the central areas of Gaza.”