A 10-month-old who had never received a single polio vaccine dose tested positive for the virus in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza. The Gaza Health Ministry announced the result on Friday. It was the territory’s first polio case in 25 years.
The ministry said the baby is one of “a number of children” who have shown symptoms consistent with polio in recent days. The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF said in a joint statement that three children are suspected of infection, with their stool samples being tested at a laboratory in Jordan.
A call for a pause in the fighting
UN Secretary-General António Guterres responded by urging both sides to lay down arms long enough for a vaccination drive. “I am appealing to all parties to provide concrete assurances right away guaranteeing humanitarian pauses for the campaign,” he told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York.
“Let’s be clear: The ultimate vaccine for polio is peace and an immediate humanitarian cease-fire,” Guterres said. “But in any case, a polio pause is a must.” He added that it is “impossible to conduct a polio vaccination campaign with war raging all over”.
The WHO and UNICEF said a pause of at least seven days is needed for mass vaccination. Hamas has said it would support a seven-day truce for that purpose, according to Press TV, and ceasefire talks were due to resume in Cairo the following week. Aid groups have asked for the pause to reach more than 600,000 children. UNICEF spokesperson Ammar Ammar said it is impossible to carry out vaccination in an active war zone.
Guterres said at least 95% coverage would be needed in each round of a two-round campaign to stop the virus spreading.
Why the virus found a foothold
Poliovirus type 2 was found in Gaza wastewater the month before, and the Health Ministry then declared the whole strip a “polio epidemic zone”. The discovery also led the Israel Defense Forces to offer polio vaccines to soldiers taking part in the Gaza operation.
The ministry blamed a lack of basic hygiene supplies, sanitation services, safe drinking water and the build-up of waste around shelters for displaced people. The UN Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Cluster estimates that 70% of water and sanitation facilities in Gaza have been significantly damaged since the war began in October 2023, and that about 340,000 tons of solid waste has piled up in or near populated areas. Oxfam estimated in June that Al-Mawasi has one toilet for every 4,130 people.
Mercy Corps estimates that some 50,000 babies born since the war began have not been immunized against polio. “We are anticipating and preparing for the worst-case scenario of a polio outbreak in the coming weeks or month,” said Francis Hughes, Gaza response director at CARE International.
The vaccine plan
The ministry said UNICEF has supplied 1.1 million doses of the two-dose oral type 2 vaccine, with another 400,000 on the way. The campaign was scheduled for the end of August and into September, with a goal of immunizing 640,000 children under the age of 10 over two rounds. UNRWA medical teams said they are ready to help give the vaccines.
Dr. Zaher Sahloul, president of the US-based group MedGlobal, said frequent displacement of most of the population makes a successful campaign challenging, and that a ceasefire or at least a humanitarian pause is needed “to give this urgent polio vaccination campaign a fighting chance”.
Then the operation hit another obstacle. A senior U.N. official, who asked not to be named, said the U.N. could not conduct any aid deliveries after Israeli officials issued evacuation orders on Sunday night for Deir al-Balah, where the U.N. coordinates much of its activity. The official called it the first time the U.N. had fully halted operations in Gaza, and said the interruption could have serious consequences for the vaccination campaign due to start later that week. UNRWA continued to provide services at its facilities.
Sources
- Aid groups call for immediate pause in Gaza war for polio vaccination to avert outbreak
- UN halts humanitarian operations in Gaza amid Israeli evacuation orders – Türkiye Today
- UN Secretary-General Urges 'Polio Pause' in Israeli War on Gaza as First Case Reported | Common Dreams
Sources
- Aid groups call for immediate pause in Gaza war for polio vaccination…
- UN halts humanitarian operations in Gaza amid Israeli… – Türkiye Today
