World Health announces the resumption of polio vaccination in Gaza on Saturday

The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that the group vaccination campaign against polio in the Gaza Strip will resume on Saturday and target more than half a million children. A statement from the World Health Organization said that “the current conditions in Gaza, including overcrowding within the shelters and the damage to adults to the infrastructure of water, sanitation and personal hygiene, which facilitates the transfer of infection through faeces and mouths, creates the ideal conditions for the spread of the polio virus.” The organization added that “the intense population movement due to the current ceasefire is likely to exacerbate the spread of polio infection.” In September and October, the World Health Organization performed two rounds of vaccinations across the sector and reached more than 95% of targets. The virus is still widespread in the sector, which means it can still reach children who have not obtained vaccination. The organization added that “6 samples were positive in December and January.” She said that “7 thousand children did not get vaccination in Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun.” The resumption of the campaign on his part, Palestinian Health Minister Majid Abu Ramadan, confirmed that “the resumption of vaccination on Saturday morning against the polio virus.” He said at a press conference in the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers in the presence of the Director of the World Health Organization Office and the Special Representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF): World Health Organization and ‘UNICEF’, and all health services in Gaza, are being implemented. The Minister of Health explained that the new vaccination campaign “will be in two phases by four weeks, as the first phase will begin on Saturday.” He added that “the second phase will begin on the fifth of next April, and that each phase will last” three consecutive days, at the same time in all governors. ‘Citizens asked the need to direct their children under the age of ten to the vaccination centers to vaccinate against the disease.