The head of the World Health Organization announced that “six people, including four children, were injured” when a polio vaccination center was “hit” yesterday Saturday in the northern Gaza Strip.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus did not specify the nature of this “attack”, nor who launched it.
“The Sheikh Radwan primary health center in northern Gaza was hit (…) while parents were taking their children to receive the life-saving polio vaccine, in an area where a humanitarian pause (of operations) had been agreed to allow vaccination to continue ,” he noted via X.
A member of the civil protection in Gaza, for his part, told AFP that at least three people were injured by debris when an Israeli drone fired a missile that hit a wall of a health center in the western part of Gaza City.
When contacted by AFP, the Israeli military denied hitting the health center.
“A first examination (of the complaint) showed that the army did not conduct a strike in the zone at the time it was reported,” he assured, recalling that he is participating in the coordination of the vaccination campaign.
The campaign resumed yesterday in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, where intensive Israeli military operations are currently taking place.
WHO and UNICEF, the United Nations children’s agency, have been assured that vaccination sites, where parents can take their children to receive the second dose of the oral vaccine, will be safe .
According to the WHO, some 119,000 children in the northern sector of the Palestinian enclave are awaiting the second dose of this vaccine, to protect themselves from the disease that can have serious consequences.
The WHO began the vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip on September 1, after the first case of polio in 25 years was confirmed in the enclave, which is under Israeli siege. This is the only one that has been identified so far, but the danger of the disease meant that action had to be taken immediately.
Dr. Tedros emphasized that “this attack, during a humanitarian pause, endangers the sacred nature of protecting children’s health and may prevent parents from taking their children to be vaccinated.”
Health authorities estimate that 90% of children should be vaccinated to prevent the spread of the disease.
The first phase of the vaccination campaign was successfully completed in early September.
Over 560,000 children under the age of ten received the first dose of the vaccine during this cycle. Dr. Tedros had hailed the “enormous success” of the venture at the time.
The health authorities expressed satisfaction with the operation, in an almost celebratory atmosphere, said the WHO official responsible for the Gaza Strip, Rick Peppercorn.
Parents and children—often to their credit—experienced a moment of respite in the midst of war.
The second round of vaccination, necessary to boost immunity, began as planned on 14 October, first in central Gaza, then in the south.
But the WHO announced last week that it had been forced to postpone the second vaccination round in the north because of the fighting. It finally started again yesterday.
According to the agency, 452,000 children in the central and southern Gaza Strip have already been vaccinated.
The second round of the emergency vaccination campaign against #Polio for children under the age of 10 began today, Saturday, in #Gaza Governorate.
📌Hundreds of #children are making their way to vaccination centers in various areas of #Gaza City to receive the second dose of the… pic.twitter.com/WvRihttVks— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 2, 2024
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#Gaza #Thousands #children #vaccinated #Israels #blockade #bombardment #Photos
