Gaza’s Health Ministry vaccinates over 72,000 children against polio

Gaza’s Health Ministry announced Sunday that it managed to vaccinate more than 72,000 children on the first day of a polio vaccination campaign, despite an ongoing Israeli offensive.

“Medical teams in the central area (of the Gaza Strip) were able to vaccinate 72,611 children on the first day of the emergency polio vaccination campaign,” the ministry said on Telegram.

An Anadolu correspondent noted that thousands of Palestinians went to the centers announced in the area to vaccinate their children under the age of 10 against polio.

According to medical teams supervising the vaccination campaign at centers in Deir al-Balah, signs of fatigue and malnutrition were observed in hundreds of children who received vaccinations due to the difficult conditions they are living through due to the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip for nearly 11 months.

The vaccination drive, which is being conducted in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), kicked off at Nasser Hospital following a joint press conference by the organizations.

Majdi Duhair, head of the technical committee overseeing the vaccination effort, said Saturday that the campaign will first focus on central Gaza from Sept. 1-4, followed by Khan Younis from Sept. 5-9, and will conclude in Gaza City and the northern regions from Sept. 9-12.

The campaign comes amid a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where Israel’s ongoing conflict with the Palestinian group Hamas and an Israeli blockade of the enclave have led to critical shortages of food, clean water and medical supplies. The deteriorating conditions have heightened concerns about potential outbreaks of diseases, including polio.

The urgency of the campaign was underscored by the confirmation of Gaza’s first polio case in 25 years in a 10-month-old child last month. On Aug. 16, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a seven-day humanitarian cease-fire to allow the vaccination of 640,000 children, a request that was supported by UNRWA.

The polio vaccination campaign is taking place against the backdrop of Israel’s continued military attacks in Gaza, which have resulted in over 40,700 Palestinian deaths and more than 94,000 injuries since Oct. 7 last year.