The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for the planned mass vaccination of children in the Gaza Strip against polio to be carried out safely. All parties to the conflict must make this possible, wrote WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Platform X. The teams are ready to start vaccinating on Sunday.
The WHO had previously announced that all sides had made “provisional commitments to so-called area-specific humanitarian pauses,” which refer to limited ceasefires in the war between Israel and Hamas.
In recent weeks, 1.26 million doses of polio vaccine have been delivered to the Gaza Strip, and 400,000 more are due to arrive shortly. The plan is to vaccinate 640,000 children under the age of 10, with two doses given four weeks apart.
Initially, vaccinations will take place in the central Gaza Strip. According to the Israeli authority responsible for Palestinian affairs, Cogat, this should last until September 3. Vaccinations will take place in the southern Gaza Strip from September 4 to 6, and in the northern Gaza Strip from September 7 to 9.
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