WHO: Ceasefire needed for polio vaccination campaign in Gaza
Published: Tuesday, Jul 30th 2024, 13:10
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In the view of the World Health Organization (WHO), a polio vaccination campaign is needed in the Gaza Strip, but this would require the guns to fall silent.
The virus that can cause polio has been discovered in wastewater samples from the coastal strip. There is therefore a very high probability that the pathogen is present in the population, said WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier in Geneva.
As experience shows that around 70 percent of people infected with polio do not develop symptoms, there does not necessarily have to be an outbreak in the Gaza Strip, the spokesperson explained. "But we need to be prepared, and we need vaccination campaigns," he said. "And for that we need a ceasefire," he added. At the very least, it must be ensured that vaccination staff and vaccines can reach all people in the Gaza Strip, Lindmeier said.
According to the UN children's charity Unicef, the polio vaccination rate in the area has fallen from 99% to 89% as a result of the war between the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas and Israel. So far, no cases of polio have been reported.
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