World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has announced that a polio vaccination campaign in Gaza is planned to begin on Sunday, September 1, 2024.

According to WHO, Israel’s military and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have agreed to three separate, zoned three-day pauses in fighting in Gaza to allow for the first round of vaccinations of 640,000 children against polio.

Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization’s senior official for the Palestinian territories, said that the vaccination campaign is due to start on Sunday, with the pauses scheduled to take place between 6am and 3pm.

WHO announced that it delivered 1.2m doses of polio vaccine to Gaza, with 400,000 more to follow, as part of an emergency campaign after the first case of the childhood disease in the war-hit coastal strip in quarter of a century.

UN relief agency, UNRWA, also said that “more than 1,000 colleagues” are preparing to reach “hundreds of thousands of children” in the Gaza Strip with the polio vaccination campaign.

Louise Wateridge, of the UN, revealed that the campaign will be in the middle area, the southern area and the northern area of the Gaza Strip.

She also outlined details of the rollout, saying, “From Sunday, we’re giving out two oral doses of the polio vaccination.”

She added that four weeks after this initial round of campaigns, “we will need to repeat the vaccination again, this is for 640,000 children across the Gaza Strip.”

“It’s so important that we get this vaccination campaign out as soon as possible, and that we have the safety to do this, because the repercussions will be disastrous for not just children in the Gaza Strip, but children in the region. And they’ve already been put through so much.”
Louise Wateridge

Additionally, Catherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF, posted on X ahead of the planned mass polio vaccination campaign in Gaza.

She said that the area-specific humanitarian pauses must be respected to stop polio from spreading in Gaza and the region.

“It’s very simple. If fighting doesn’t stop, polio vaccinators are unable to reach children. Gaza has been polio free for 25yrs until now. Failing to respect these pauses would be an unforgivable failure for the children in Gaza and the region who have already suffered so much.

“Most of all, children in Gaza need a cease fire, protection from all forms of harm, access to health care, safe water and sanitation. And all hostages must be released unconditionally and reunited with loved ones.”
Catherine Russell

‘Full And Permanent’ Ceasefire Needed To Pull Gaza Back From Brink Of ‘Devastating Health Crisis’

Moreover, the charity, ActionAid called for “full and permanent” ceasefire in Gaza.

Referring to the forthcoming polio vaccine rollout, the charity said, “While the pauses will allow some children to receive life-saving polio vaccinations, they fall far short of what is urgently needed to pull Gaza back from the brink of a devastating health crisis and improve the dire living conditions that are enabling diseases to thrive.”

“Gaza needs a full and permanent ceasefire now so that aid – including fuel which is urgently needed to keep hospitals running – can enter safely and at the enormous scale required to stop this catastrophic humanitarian crisis deteriorating any further.”
Action Aid

“The international community must increase its efforts to secure one, including halting arms sales to the Israeli government and imposing sanctions,” the charity added.