United Nations. Humanitarian pauses in the war in the Gaza Strip have been agreed to allow a second round of polio vaccinations to begin on October 14 for 590,000 children under 10 years of age, the director of the agency said on Thursday. UN for children, Unicef.
“Specific humanitarian pauses have been agreed for each area. It is essential that all parties respect these pauses. Without them, it is impossible to vaccinate children,” Catherine Russell, Executive Director of Unicef, said in a statement.
The first round of the polio vaccination campaign, which began on September 1, met its goal of vaccinating 90 percent of children under 10 years of age, according to the United Nations. It was carried out in phases over two weeks during humanitarian lulls in fighting between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants.
The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed in August that a baby had been partially paralyzed by the type two polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years.
“Unicef will include vitamin A supplements to strengthen children’s immune systems. Children in Gaza live in extremely poor hygienic and sanitary conditions,” said Russell.
“With the additional vaccine equipment and cold boxes that arrived yesterday, Unicef is ready to distribute and vaccinate children to stop the transmission of polio,” he said. “The success of the first round shows that when agreements are respected, we can get the job done.”
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