UN chief: Need Gaza combat pause for mass polio immunization
Published: Friday, Aug 16th 2024, 18:40
Back to Live Feed
UN Secretary-General António Guterres is calling for a pause in the fighting in the cut-off and largely destroyed coastal strip for the polio vaccination of hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza. "I call on all parties to immediately provide concrete assurances that guarantee humanitarian pauses for the campaign," said Guterres in New York. A polio pause is a must. "It is impossible to conduct a polio vaccination campaign while war is raging everywhere."
640,000 children must be protected
Following the discovery of polio viruses in Gaza's waste water, the United Nations is planning mass vaccinations against polio in the coming weeks. At the end of August and in September, more than 640,000 children up to the age of ten are to be protected against the virus in two rounds of vaccinations, as announced by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva.
The UN health authority reported that three children in the Gaza Strip were already suspected of having acute paralysis symptoms typical of polio. The virus was detected in sewage samples in the densely populated war zone in July.
Guterres went on to say that 95 percent of children must be vaccinated in order to prevent the spread of the disease. To this end, polio experts must be given access to the area sealed off by Israel. Fuel for cars must be available. Cold chains must also be maintained. Above all, however, security must be guaranteed for civilians so that they can get to the vaccination stations.
Seven-day ceasefire
The WHO and the UN Children's Fund, Unicef, called on Israel and the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas to stop fighting for seven days. According to Guterres, 708 teams are to carry out the vaccinations in health facilities. A further 316 teams are to be on the road in Gaza. The WHO has released 1.6 million doses of vaccine.
©Keystone/SDA
English 
German 
French 
Spanish 
Arabic