Richard Peeperkorn of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the occupied Palestinian territory said the aim was to reach all children in the north with the second and final dose.
“We covered many more children than we expected, but we missed some,” he said during a video-link briefing for journalists at UN headquarters on Monday, stressing that evacuation orders had recently displaced thousands of people.
Yet the ongoing year-long war, combined with weeks of siege and Israel’s constant eviction orders and bombings, have caused serious delays and obstacles.
Almost 80 per cent covered
Still, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said 79 percent of children in the northern Gaza Strip are now fully vaccinated against polio.
“Humanitarian pauses are essential to the rollout of this vital campaign, but without a lasting #ceasefireNow, children will continue to suffer and die,” UNRWA said on social media early Monday.
Top UN officials were alarmed by violent incidents reported at some of the sites where parents, their children and aid workers had gathered for the campaign’s rollout.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed deep concern over the weekend about reports of an assault at a health center.
UNICEF asks Israel to investigate the case
The head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Catherine Russell, stressed in a statement released late Saturday that attacks on civilians, including humanitarian workers and what remains of Gaza’s civilian facilities and infrastructure, must stop.
“When taken together with the appalling level of child deaths in northern Gaza from other attacks, these latest events combine to write another dark chapter in one of the darkest periods of this horrific war,” she said.
“The entire Palestinian population in northern Gaza, especially children, is at imminent risk of death from disease, famine and the ongoing bombardment,” she warned, adding that UNICEF is asking Israel for an immediate investigation into the circumstances of an attack on its staff. member and that action must be taken to hold them accountable.
Delivery in the midst of conflict
The incidents took place during agreed humanitarian breaks, in place from 06:00 to 16:00 during the three-day campaign. Eradicated in Gaza 25 years ago, polio re-emerged earlier this year amid the many humanitarian crises sparked by the war, which began after deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel in October 2023.
To date, Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people and destroyed large parts of the Strip, including water supply stations and health centers, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Despite access challenges, the Polio Technical Committee for Gaza, which includes the Palestinian Ministry of Health, WHO, UNICEF, UNRWA and partners, decided to resume the campaign, which had been suspended since 23 October due to the lack of security guarantees.
By early Saturday morning, 216 teams had been deployed across 106 fixed locations, 22 of which had been added to ensure increased availability of vaccination in areas where recently displaced people are seeking refuge, according to UN agencies.
In addition, more than 200 social “mobilizers” engaged local communities and raised awareness of vaccination efforts.
Mission almost complete
The campaign in northern Gaza follows the successful completion of the first two phases of the second round in central and southern Gaza, which reached 451,216 children, or a total of 96 percent of the target in these areas.
To interrupt the easily spreadable polio virus, at least 90 percent of all children in all communities and neighborhoods must be vaccinated, according to the WHO.
A delay in the administration of a second dose of nOPV2 within six weeks reduces the effect of two closely spaced rounds, reducing immunity, according to the UN health agency.
The WHO also warned that a significant number of children missing their second vaccine dose seriously jeopardizes efforts to stop the spread of the virus and could also lead to additional cases in the Gaza Strip and neighboring countries.
