WHO sends more than 1 million doses of polio vaccine to Gaza

Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced today, Friday, that the organization will send more than one million doses of the polio vaccine to the Gaza Strip.

“While no cases of polio have been reported so far, without immediate action, it will only be a matter of time before thousands more children become infected and become unprotected,” Ghebreyesus said.

He pointed out that children under the age of five are most at risk of contracting this virus, especially infants under the age of two, due to the disruption of regular vaccination campaigns as a result of the war that has been going on for 9 months.

Vaccine doses will be distributed over the coming weeks to prevent children from becoming infected after the virus was detected in samples of wastewater in the Strip.

Polio is spread mainly through the fecal matter of an infected person through charcoal. It is a highly contagious virus that infects the nervous system and causes paralysis. The incidence of the virus has decreased by 99% worldwide since 1988 thanks to mass vaccination campaigns, and efforts are ongoing to completely eradicate it.

The Israeli military said on Sunday that it would begin vaccinating its soldiers in Gaza with the polio vaccine, after detecting traces of the virus in samples taken from the Strip.

The United Nations also announced last week a significant increase in cases of hepatitis A, dysentery and gastroenteritis as health conditions in Gaza deteriorate due to sewage leaking into streets near some of the displaced people's tents.