The Israeli military and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have agreed to three separate, three-day pauses in fighting in the Gaza Strip to allow the vaccination of about 640,000 children against polio, the senior official said. The vaccination campaign is set to begin on Sunday, said Rick Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization’s senior official for the region.
Israel and Hamas have agreed on a ceasefire in several areas of Gaza for three days. The first case of polio was found in Gaza after 25 years on 23 August. After this, 6.40 lakh children have been vaccinated against polio. A senior WHO official said that the Israeli army and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas have agreed on three separate, three-day pauses in the fighting in the Gaza Strip to allow the vaccination of about 640,000 children against polio. Rick Pepperkorn, the senior World Health Organization official for the region, said the vaccination campaign is scheduled to begin on Sunday.
He said the campaign would begin with a three-day pause in fighting in central Gaza, then move to southern Gaza, where there would be a three-day pause, followed by northern Gaza. Peeperkorn said it had been agreed to extend the humanitarian pause in each area to a fourth day if needed. The WHO confirmed on August 23 that at least one child had been paralyzed by type 2 poliovirus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years. The Israeli army’s humanitarian unit (COGAT) said on Wednesday that the vaccination campaign would be carried out in coordination with the Israeli army as part of a regular humanitarian pause that would allow the population to access medical centers where vaccinations would be carried out.
According to the CDC, some people infected with the polio virus show severe symptoms of the disease. The virus attacks the brain, spinal cord and nervous system of these people. One in 200 infected people becomes paralyzed. 5 to 10 percent of paralyzed patients die. The number of Palestinians killed in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas has crossed 40 thousand. More than 90 thousand people have been injured so far in Israeli attacks on Gaza.
Other News