Start on Sunday

Polio vaccinations for 640,000 children in the Gaza Strip

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), clinics, medical practices and mobile teams should immunize 640,000 children against the virus responsible for polio within a few days.(Bild: AFP/Jihad Al-Sharafi)

Hundreds of thousands of children in the embattled Gaza Strip are to be vaccinated against polio from Sunday. The aim is to reach more than 90 percent of children under the age of ten. To this end, there are to be temporary and localized pauses in the fighting.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), clinics, doctors' surgeries and mobile teams are to immunize 640,000 children against the virus responsible for polio within a few days. The aim is to reach more than 90 percent of children under the age of ten. To this end, there are to be temporary and localized pauses in the campaign.

First vaccine doses administered on Saturday
The first vaccine doses were administered at a press conference held by the Hamas-controlled health authority in the Gaza Strip on Saturday (see video above). The WHO spoke of an opening ceremony.

The aim of the polio vaccination campaign is to reach more than 90 percent of children under the age of ten.(Bild: AFP/Jihad Al-Sharafi)

Recently, there was the first case of polio in the Palestinian territory in 25 years. Since the beginning of the war following the Hamas terror attack on the Israeli border area on October 7 last year, many babies in the Gaza Strip have not been able to be vaccinated.

According to the WHO, the vaccination campaign is to begin in the central Gaza Strip. After three or possibly more days, the campaign will continue in the south before moving to the north of the coastal strip.

According to the WHO, the dire hygienic conditions in the coastal strip, where many displaced people are forced to live in cramped conditions and clean water is scarce, could contribute to the rapid spread of the disease.