Israel has agreed to various pauses in fighting in Gaza to allow for the vaccination of children against polio, a World Health Organization official said Thursday.
Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the West Bank and Gaza, said in a press briefing that the vaccination campaign will begin Sept. 1 across three three-day phases, and the organization has received a preliminary commitment for area-specific humanitarian pauses during each phase.
"We call on all parties to pause the fighting to allow children to safely access health facilities and community outreach workers to get the children who can access those facilities for polio vaccination," Peeperkorn said during the call.
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The WHO official said the pauses will begin with a three-day pause in fighting in central Gaza before heading to south Gaza and then north Gaza.
Over the course of the campaign, officials aim to give two doses of the polio vaccine to around 640,000 children under the age of 10. As of Thursday, Peeperkorn said 1.26 million doses and 500 vaccine carriers had already been delivered to Gaza, and more than 2,100 health care and community outreach workers had been trained to administer the vaccinations. He also said 400,000 additional vaccine doses will arrive in Gaza soon.
Peeperkorn noted that it's "critical" the region reaches 90% vaccination during each round of the campaign "to stop the outbreak, the transmission within Gaza and prevent international spread of polio."
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Growing concerns about polio vaccine coverage in the war-torn country were realized recently when an unvaccinated 10-month-old baby became the region's first recorded case of the infection in more than 25 years. The infection, caused by a mutated strain of the virus that vaccinated people shed in their waste, paralyzed part of the baby's leg.
Israel has yet to comment on the vaccination campaign, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously said military operations may be suspended to allow for vaccinations against the disease.
