In the Gaza Strip, three children have developed possible symptoms of polio. UN aid workers want to vaccinate hundreds of thousands quickly. However, certain conditions must be met for this to happen.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres is calling for a pause in fighting in the cut-off and largely destroyed coastal strip so that hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza can be vaccinated against polio. “I appeal to all parties to immediately make concrete commitments that guarantee humanitarian pauses for the campaign,” said Guterres in New York. A polio pause is a must. “It is impossible to carry out a polio vaccination campaign while war is raging everywhere.”
Following the discovery of polio viruses in the wastewater of the Gaza Strip, the United Nations is planning mass vaccinations against polio in the coming weeks. At the end of August and in September, more than 640,000 children up to the age of ten are to be protected against the virus in two rounds of vaccinations, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced in Geneva.
The UN health authority reported that three children in the Gaza Strip were suspected of having acute paralysis symptoms typical of polio. The virus was found in wastewater samples in the densely populated war zone in July.
Guterres went on to say that 95 percent of children must be vaccinated to prevent the spread of the disease. To do this, polio experts must be given access to the area sealed off by Israel. There must be fuel for cars. Cold chains must also be maintained. Above all, however, safety must be guaranteed for civilians so that they can get to the vaccination stations.
The WHO and the UN children’s agency Unicef called on Israel and the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas to stop fighting for seven days. The Islamist Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, supported this demand, a spokesman for the organization said. According to Guterres, 708 teams will carry out the vaccinations in health facilities. Another 316 teams will be deployed in Gaza. The WHO has released 1.6 million doses of vaccine.
