A nurse administers polio vaccine drops to a young Palestinian patient at the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, amid the ongoing Israeli war in Gaza. AFP
Despite continuing Israeli army attacks on the Palestinian territory, the second round of a polio vaccination campaign, aiming to reach more than 590,000 children under the age of 10, began on Monday.
"The total number of children who received a second dose of polio vaccine in central Gaza after two days of vaccination is 156,943," the World Health Organization's director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
"The vaccination continues today. At the same time, 128,121 children received vitamin A supplements.
"We call for the humanitarian pauses to continue to be respected. We call for a ceasefire and peace," he said.
As during the initial round of vaccination last month, the second will be divided into three phases, helped by localised "humanitarian pauses" in the fighting: first in central Gaza, then in the south and finally in the hardest-to-reach north of the territory.
Each phase is due to take three campaign days, along with one catch-up day for monitoring and vaccinating any children who were missed.
The vaccination drive began after the Gaza Strip confirmed its first case of polio in 25 years.
The disease has re-emerged in besieged Gaza, where the war has left most medical facilities and the sewage system in ruins.
Most often spread through sewage and contaminated water, poliovirus is highly infectious. It can cause deformities and paralysis, and is potentially fatal, mainly affecting children under the age of five.
WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told reporters on Tuesday that nearly 93,000 doses had been administered in central Gaza on Monday's first day, which he said passed "without major issues".
The estimated target for the central area is over 179,000 children under 10.
"We hope that parents will keep coming," Jasarevic said.
The Israeli brutal military campaign on the Gaza Strip, which began on October 7, 2023, has killed at least 42,409 people, most of them women and children, and injured more than 99,153 others, according to the latest figures from the Palestinian Health Ministry, which the UN has confirmed reliable.
* This story was edited by Ahram Online.
Short link: