More than 189 000 children vaccinated for polio in...

More than 189 000 children vaccinated for polio in Gaza

Oscar J Jeke

Zim Now Reporter

Humanitarian organisations, UNICEF, UNRWA and WHO in war-stricken Gaza Strip have managed to vaccinate over 189 000 children under the age of 10 years during a three-day campaign from September 1 to 3 being carried out by over 513 teams that were deployed across the area.

The campaign which UNICEF said was the first phase of a successive campaign aiming to vaccinate 640 000 children, recorded success figures way above the initial target, with officials noting the need by parents to cease the opportunity and protect their children, with the risks of polio spreading within Gaza and neighbouring countries on the increase, while untreated sewage and rubble being the catalysts to the ever growing menace.

In a statement shared by the organisations, records state that the willingness by both parties for a pause in fighting to allow vaccination and humanitarian aid in the strip during the first phase was a good sign of peace and prospect of the future which allowed children to be protected from the outbreak of various diseases, now focus being on polio, which in the past before the war, children had very high immunisation coverage in Gaza, of over 99 percent.

“Despite relentless attacks on schools and sites sheltering uprooted children, exhausting displacement orders forcing families to relocate time and again, and widespread hunger levels that have at points pushed parts of Gaza to the brink of famine, families made the effort to turn out in high numbers to the vaccination sites. They know there is no time to waste to protect their children.

“However, none of this can be achieved without the area-specific humanitarian pauses to ensure healthcare workers and children can engage in the campaign without risking their lives. The agreed pauses were respected in this first phase, giving families and health workers the confidence to get the job done.

“This must continue. Without a polio pause to implement the remaining two phases of the campaign, we will fail to protect the children of Gaza and place other children in the region at risk. We must reach at least 90 per cent vaccination coverage to stop the virus from spreading. Preparing for this ambitious campaign and securing these pauses was not easy but it demonstrates that it is possible to allow supplies into the Strip, silence the strikes and protect civilians. There just has to be the will,” reads the statement.

The statement further asserts that ongoing destruction of vital infrastructure, including health, water, and sanitation systems continues to increase the risk of deadly disease outbreaks across the Strip.

“After almost a year of families experiencing horrors no man, woman or child should ever have to endure, this week we saw what can be achieved with, simply, will.”