THE SECOND ROUND of an emergency campaign to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza against polio is to begin next week. 

However, the United Nations has warned that this round will be “more complicated” than the first.

The UN agencies for health and for children said they were gearing up to start providing follow-up doses to some 591,700 children under the age of 10 across the besieged region from 14 October. 

It follows the successful first round that saw almost 600,000 children receive a first dose of the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) vaccine in September. 

There has been a resurgence of the virus in Gaza due to Israel’s military offensive, which has seen 2.4 million residents forced to flee their homes and take refuge elsewhere, often in cramped and unsanitary conditions. 

In July, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that the polio virus was detected in wastewater samples in Gaza, and the Israeli military began to vaccinate its soldiers operating in Gaza as a result. 

In August, the first case of polio in Gaza in 25 years was recorded as a ten-month-old baby was paralysed due to the disease. 

It prompted a massive vaccination effort targeting at least 90% of children under ten, which was aided by localised “humanitarian pauses” in fighting.

The campaign is being conducted by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in collaboration with the WHO, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) and other partners.

Like the last round, the second round will take part in three phases: first in central Gaza, then in the south and finally in the hardest-to reach north of the territory.

‘We are concerned’

“Once again, a humanitarian pause will be a prerequisite to implementing a successful second round, particularly to ensure all polio workers can operate in a safe and secure environment, and communities and families can obtain vaccination for children without fear,” the WHO said. 

Speaking via video-link from Jerusalem, the WHO’s representative for the occupied Palestinian Territory, Rik Peeperkorn, told reporters he had “confidence” in the hundreds of teams ready to roll out the second stage of the campaign.

But he acknowledged he was “concerned about the developments in the north”, where Israel has dramatically escalated its operations and has issued a string of evacuation orders.

“We are concerned,” agreed Jean Gough of UNICEF.

“The conditions on the ground are really more complicated this time,” she told the briefing, also speaking from Jerusalem.

She emphasised the need to fully vaccinate at least 90 percent of children to ensure polio does not spread.

“It will be absolutely critical that not only the localised humanitarian pauses are respected in the north, but also that people are not forced to move from one area to another,” she said.

Gough stressed that the UN had held numerous meetings with Israeli authorities and had received confirmation from Cogat, an Israeli government agency, that the humanitarian pauses would be implemented.

“This worked in the last round and we are confident” it will work again, she said.

“It is difficult, but it is possible.”

The current conflict in Gaza has been ongoing since Hamas’s attack on 7 October last year, which resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. The count includes hostages killed in captivity.

The militants also took 251 people hostage.

According to the Palestinian health ministry, Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 42,065 people in Gaza, a majority civilians, figures the UN has described as reliable.

With reporting from © AFP 2024