Protecting a Generation: 640,000 Gaza Children to Receive Lifesaving Polio Vaccinations in 3-Day Blitz
The campaign is aimed at 640,000 children under the age of 10, according to the World Health Organization, each will receive two drops of oral polio vaccine in two rounds, and the second dose will be given four weeks after the first.
By Julia Frankel
Jerusalem, August 31 (AP).- The agency United Nations Health and its partners will begin a campaign on Sunday to vaccinate 640,000 Palestinian children against polio in Gazaan ambitious effort in the midst of a a devastating war which has destroyed the healthcare system of the territory.
The campaign comes after the first case of polio was recorded in Gaza in 25 years, in a 10-month-old baby who now has a paralyzed leg. The World Health Organization says the presence of one case of paralysis indicates there could be hundreds more infected who have not shown symptoms.
Most people who get polio do not experience symptoms, and those who do usually recover in about a week. But there is no cure, and when it does cause paralysis it is usually permanent. If paralysis affects the respiratory system, the disease can be fatal.
The vaccination campaign will not be easy: Gaza’s roads are mostly destroyed, hospitals are severely damaged, and the population is scattered in remote areas.
The United Nations health agency and its partners will begin a campaign on Sunday to vaccinate 640,000 Palestinian children against polio in Gaza. Photo: Gideon Markowicz, Xinhua
The World Health Organization said on Thursday it had reached an agreement with Israel for a limited pause in hostilities to allow the vaccination campaign to take place. Still, an operation on that scale will pose great difficulties in a territory covered in rubble and where 90 percent of Palestinians are displaced.
HOW LONG WILL IT BE BEAUTIFUL?
The three-day vaccination campaign in central Gaza will start on Sunday, during a “humanitarian pause” between 6:00 am and 3:00 pm, and an additional day can be added if necessary, according to WHO representative Dr Rik Peeperkorn in the Palestinian territories .
In collaboration with the Israeli authorities, the operation will then move to the south and north of the enclosure during similar pauses, he explained in a video conference from Deir al-Balah, in the middle of the Strip.
WHO WILL RECEIVE THE SANDWICH?
The campaign is aimed at 640,000 children under the age of 10, according to the World Health Organization Each will receive two drops of oral polio vaccine in two rounds, and the second dose will be given four a week after the first.
Abdul Rahman is 10 months old #Gazafirst case of polio in 25 years – a stark reminder of how war steals the future. WHO and partners are planning a two-round vaccination campaign to protect 640 000 children.
Every child deserves a healthy future.#EchydPawb pic.twitter.com/8KbdhPuiOA
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) August 29, 2024
WHERE ARE THE VACCINATION CENTERS?
Vaccination centers are scattered throughout Gaza, both inside and outside Israel’s evacuation zones, from Rafah in the south to the far north.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health, based in Ramallah, said on Friday that there will be more than 400 “fixed” vaccination points, the majority in Khan Younis, where there is a higher population density and 239,300 children under the age of 10. These positions will be in health centres, hospitals, clinics and field hospitals.
In the rest of the territory, it will also be distributed at around 230 points set up in community meeting places that are not standard medical centres.
WHERE ARE THE VACCINATIONS NOW?
About 1.3 million doses of the vaccine passed through the Kerem Shalom checkpoint and are stored in a “cold chain” in a warehouse in Deir al-Balah. This means that the facility can maintain the correct temperature so that the drug does not lose its effectiveness.
Another shipment of 400,000 doses is planned to be delivered shortly.
About 1.3 million doses of the vaccine passed through the Kerem Shalom checkpoint and are stored in a “cold chain” in a warehouse in Deir al-Balah. This means that the facility can maintain the correct temperature so that the drug does not lose its effectiveness. Photo: Matt Rourke, AP
The vaccines will be transported in trucks to the distribution points by a team of more than two thousand medical volunteers, said Ammar Ammar, spokesperson for UNICEF.
WHAT CHALLENGES ARE PRESENTED?
Organizing any kind of campaign that requires crossing Gaza and interacting with its health system is bound to cause difficulties.
The United Nations estimates that around 65 percent of the enclave’s road network has been damaged. Nineteen of the 36 hospitals in the Strip are out of service.
The north of the territory is isolated from the south and travel between the two areas has been complicated during the war due to Israeli military operations. Aid groups have had to suspend trips for security reasons after their convoys came under attack by the army.
Peeperkorn said on Friday that the World Health Organization cannot conduct a door-to-door vaccination campaign in Gaza as it has done elsewhere. When asked about the feasibility of the effort, he noted that the entity believes it is “feasible if all the pieces of the puzzle are in place.”
🔴
Israel has agreed to a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza in order to vaccinate the population of Gaza against polio.
This is after Israel sent in over 280,000 Polio vaccine packages (over 1.5M doses) to Gaza. pic.twitter.com/qHw9JR3GHC
— Eastern Voices (@easternvoices) August 28, 2024
HOW MUCH DOSE DOES A CHILD NEED AND WHAT HAPPENS IF THEY MISS ONE?
The World Health Organization says children usually need three to four doses of the oral vaccine – two drops at a time – to be protected from the disease. If they do not receive all of them, they are vulnerable to infection.
Doctors have found that children suffering from malnutrition or other illnesses may need more than 10 doses to be fully protected.
ARE THERE SIDE EFFECTS?
Yes, but they are very rare.
Billions of doses of the oral vaccine have been given to children around the world and it is safe and effective. But in about one in 2.7 million doses, the live virus in the vaccine can paralyze the child receiving the drops.
🌎 “Vaccination campaign in Gaza, where we aim to vaccinate more than 640,000 children against Polio”
“The campaign will consist of two rounds of vaccine given 4 weeks apart”
WHO Director General – Tedros pic.twitter.com/yD2fuRLaIm
— Concerned Citizen (@BGatesIsaPyscho) August 30, 2024
HOW DID THIS EVENT IN GAZA BEGIN?
The polio virus that caused the latest outbreak is a mutation of the oral polio vaccine. This vaccine contains weakened active viruses and, in very unusual cases, those who have been vaccinated can shed the virus and it can evolve into a new strain that can start new epidemics.
