A nurse administers the polio vaccine to a young Palestinian patient at Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday amid clashes between Israel and the Hamas militant group.
Jihad Al-Sharafi / AFP via Getty Images
hide caption
change the caption
Jihad Al-Sharafi / AFP via Getty Images
Health workers in Gaza are launched an ambitious mass vaccination effort in the Gaza Strip to end the polio outbreak and prevent its international spread.
The United Nations plans to reach more than 640,000 Palestinian children within days. Israel has agreed to a staggered pause in the fighting while the vaccination campaign has rolled out, and Hamas has also agreed to cooperate.
Polio is a highly contagious and potentially crippling disease, but it is also vaccine-preventable. The virus had disappeared from Gaza for the past 25 years, but returned during the 10-month war when Israeli bombing destroyed much of the infrastructure.
For almost a year, children have had no access to vaccines because hospitals have been closed or destroyed in Gaza. The Palestinians also rely on dirty water since the sewage treatment and desalination plants were bombed.
More than 40,000 people have been killed in this war, according to the Gaza health ministry. The number of deaths from disease is unclear, although there has been a significant spike in infections and diarrhea among children.
A worker unloads a shipment of polio vaccine provided with the support of UNICEF to the Gaza Strip through the Karm Abu Salem crossing, also known as Kerem Shalom, at a depot owned by the Gaza health ministry on August 25.
Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images
hide caption
change the caption
Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images
Challenges ahead
One of the main concerns is that the vaccine has to be refrigerated at every step and Gaza has no electricity – only a generator that uses very little fuel. Another challenge is that most of the population in Gaza is displaced, so it will be difficult to reach UN-run clinics.
But the aid group responsible for the rollout said the most critical factor was a pause in airstrikes to reach all the children in Gaza.
The UN has warned that without a pause, the vaccine launch will not be possible.
A case of polio in Gaza
Gaza’s first case of polio in a quarter of a century was confirmed earlier this month in a 10-month-old baby, who was paralyzed in one leg. This happened shortly after polio was detected in six out of seven routine sewage samples in Gaza.
At least two cases are suspected, but doctors monitoring the situation estimate that thousands of people in Gaza have contracted polio. This is because most people with polio do not develop symptoms and can fight it off on their own.
But the virus is highly contagious, and can spread through water systems, aquifers and airborne droplets. World health officials have sounded the alarm that polio could easily spread to Israel, Egypt and Jordan. It may reach Europe and the United States.
Over the past few weeks, the Israeli military has been vaccinating its soldiers in Gaza.
Rollout schedule
According to the UN, a two-round vaccination campaign will begin on Sunday in central Gaza, but Gaza’s health ministry said it had already started on Saturday. The rollout will last three days there and then move to southern and northern Gaza. At that time, Israel has agreed not to attack for about 8 hours a day in certain areas.
More than 2,180 health workers and community outreach workers are part of the vaccination effort. The UN says more than 1.2 million doses of oral polio vaccine have arrived in Gaza, and 400,000 additional doses are on the way. Vaccines will be delivered to 392 sites, while around 300 mobile teams will travel to people.
The UN added that it was prepared to extend the rollout by one day to account for the “uptick in violence, road destruction and infrastructure damage.” The organization said the campaign must achieve at least 90% vaccination coverage in order to stop the outbreak and prevent international spread.
The second dose will be given after four weeks, according to the UN
