The World Health Organisation (WHO) is planning to send 1.2m polio vaccines to Gaza within the next fortnight after the virus was detected in wastewater.
The aim is for two rounds of vaccination, targeting 600 000 children under the age of eight, starting on 17 August, reports the BBC.
Gaza remains the focus of a 10-month-long Israeli military operation which has left only 16 out of 36 of the territory's hospitals even partially functional.
WHO official Andrea King said it would be a “huge logistical challenge” to ensure the doses are deployed successfully, as vaccines need to be continuously stored in a limited temperature range – from the moment they are manufactured until they are administered – which presents a technical challenge during ongoing hostilities.
The WHO has called for a ceasefire and requested “absolute freedom of movement” during the rollout of the vaccine programme, and said it was in the process of obtaining the necessary approvals to enter the area.
However, previous calls for a ceasefire on humanitarian grounds have not been granted by Israel.
Testing run by WHO last month showed that sewage samples collected in two areas of Gaza were positive for polio, with their genetic nature indicating they had been circulating in Gaza “for some time, maybe as early as since September last year”, said WHO polio specialist Dr Hamed Jafari.
The WHO says immunisation rates in Gaza and the occupied West Bank were optimal before the conflict. Polio vaccine coverage was estimated at 99% in 2022, although it had declined to 89% last year.
Last week, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry said the territory had become a “polio epidemic zone”.
Fewer than half of Gaza’s primary healthcare facilities are operational, adds the WHO, while up to 70% of sewage pumps have been destroyed and not a single wastewater treatment plant is working, presenting the “perfect breeding ground” for disease to spread.
BBC article – Gaza to get 1.2m polio vaccines amid outbreak fears (Open access)
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