UNRWA said 87,000 children in the central Gaza Strip have received the first dose of a polio vaccine as the inoculation drive continues for a second day amid a temporary ‘pause’ of Israeli attacks, on Monday Sept.2nd, 2024.
The agency said in a post on X that “Efforts are ongoing to provide children with this key vaccine, but what they need most is a ceasefire now.”
The three-day vaccination campaign aims to target some 640,000 Palestinian children under the age of 10.
The move comes after the Palestinian Ministry of Health detected the first polio case in 25 years in Gaza was, this month.
Israel has agreed to pause its military attacks in Gaza to allow health workers to administer the vaccines, UN officials have said.
The first phase of the polio vaccination campaign has kicked off on Sunday morning in the central Gaza Strip and is expected to continue for other areas within these days.
Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the Palestinian territory, said on Thursday that the three pauses will take place from 6am to 3pm (03:00 to 12:00 GMT) and last for three days each in different areas of Gaza, beginning on Sunday. The pauses are unrelated to the continuing ceasefire negotiations.
There are growing concerns that the virus may disseminate rapidly given the inadequate sanitation and extreme overcrowding within Gaza’s camps, which are currently accommodating hundreds of thousands of displaced individuals.
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