History and science have shown us that the safest and most effective way to stop the spread and protect children from polio is through vaccination. The vaccine is safe and effective and has been used to protect children in more than 40 countries over the past three years.
However, this cannot be achieved without the area-specific humanitarian pauses designed to ensure that health workers and children can participate in the campaign without risking their lives. The agreed pauses were respected during this first phase, giving families and health workers the confidence they needed to get the job done.
This must continue. Without a polio pause to implement the remaining two phases of the campaign, we will fail to protect children in Gaza and will put other children in the region at risk. We must achieve a vaccination rate of at least 90 percent to prevent the spread of the virus.
Preparing this ambitious campaign and achieving these breaks was not easy, but it shows that it is possible to allow supplies to enter Gaza, stop the attacks and protect civilians.
Children in Gaza are the victims of the war, facing daily threats of explosions and bullets. The ongoing destruction of vital infrastructure – including health, water and sanitation systems – continues to increase the risk of deadly disease outbreaks throughout the Gaza Strip. Before the conflict began, vaccination rates among children in Gaza were very high, at over 99 percent.
This is one of the most dangerous and difficult vaccination campaigns in the world. Gaza is already the most dangerous place in the world to be a child, and even with a polio pause, the vaccination campaign faces great dangers and immeasurable obstacles, including damaged roads and health infrastructure, displaced people, looting and disrupted supply routes.
The children have suffered enough already. And now the stakes are even higher as more children in the region are at risk. We cannot fail.”
