The UN campaign to vaccinate children in the Gaza Strip against polio has been a great success, reflecting concern about the infectious viral disease that threatens children in the Palestinian enclave.
Afnan Al Muqayyad, a Palestinian displaced person, said: “I came to the UNRWA clinic to vaccinate my daughters against polio, and God willing we will not see any more diseases than the ones that have already broken out.”
This is a complex and ambitious campaign. The competent authorities have less than 2 weeks to administer the first dose of the vaccine to more than 640 thousand children under 10 years of age. And parents to find a way through the damaged roads to reach the hospitals designated as vaccination centers in time. And this under the condition that Israel and Hamas adhere to the agreement for 8-hour daily pauses in their hostilities, so that their movement can be done safely.
Dr. Richard Pipercorn, WHO Representative in Gaza, said: “During each round of the campaign the Palestinian Ministry of Health in collaboration with P.O.Y., UNICEF, UNWRA and partners will provide two drops of oral administration of the new polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) to more than 640,000 children under 10 years of age’.
The UN campaign was launched after the recent detection of the first confirmed case of polio in Gaza in 25 years, in 10-month-old Abdul Rahman. Nivin Abu Al Jidian’s mother is asking to be allowed to be taken abroad for treatment, as the disease has already paralyzed him: “He is my only child. He has the right to be transferred abroad for treatment. He has the right to walk and run as before. He has the right to proper treatment, to be taken out of Gaza to have a chance at life.”
However, the World Health Organization is concerned that there are more cases and is pushing for a new coordination to be made after 4 weeks to administer the second dose to the children of Gaza, so that the disease does not reach epidemic proportions.
Source: ert.gr
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