Second polio vaccination round in the Gaza Strip makes progress
Published: Tuesday, Oct 15th 2024, 12:40
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More than 92,000 children in the Gaza Strip have received the second dose of their polio vaccine. The second round of the vaccination campaign started on Monday without incident, reported the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva.
The WHO is initially working with partner organizations in the central Gaza Strip. As in the first round of vaccinations in September, Israel has agreed to hourly ceasefires so that families can go to the vaccination stations safely.
A total of 590,000 children are to be reached
The vaccination teams will then go to the south and then to the north of the Gaza Strip. In total, more than 590,000 children under the age of ten are to receive the second dose for complete protection against the infectious disease.
Polio, also known as infantile paralysis, can spread when many people have to live together in precarious hygienic conditions. Hundreds of thousands of people in the Gaza Strip are living in tent cities and emergency shelters because Israel repeatedly evacuates parts of the city in the fight against the terrorist organization Hamas and houses are destroyed as a result of the fighting.
In the summer, a case of polio was detected in the Gaza Strip for the first time in 25 years. The disease can lead to permanent paralysis and death.
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