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The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday it plans to administer a second dose of polio vaccine to children in the Gaza Strip starting next week after the campaign was disrupted by bombing.
The vaccination campaign began on September 1 after the first case of polio in 25 years was reported in the Palestinian territory, which is facing an Israeli offensive against the Islamist Hamas movement.
The first round of vaccinations was carried out, and the second, to strengthen immunity, began on October 14, first in the center of the sector and then further south, taking advantage of the so-called humanitarian pauses in hostilities.
But on Wednesday the WHO said it had been forced to postpone the final phase in the north of the sector due to “intense bombing” by Israel, which was “making conditions on the ground impossible”.
Rick Peperkorn, WHO representative for the Palestinian territories, said on Friday that the campaign could likely be resumed soon.
“We still have hope that we will be able to carry out this campaign. The committee is constantly checking when the time is right,” he said during a news conference in Geneva, which he spoke via videoconference.
“We have a window of opportunity from October 28 to November 5, and I hope that is the case. We need access to children wherever they are,” he explained.
It is “extremely important to complete” vaccinations, he insisted.
Peperkorn said 452,000 children in the center and south of the sector had been vaccinated, while 119,000 living in the north of the territory were awaiting the second dose needed to prevent transmission of the virus, according to WHO.
Polio can cause deformities, paralysis and, in some cases, death.
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