UN polio vaccination campaign begins for 640,000 kids in Gaza

The United Nations, in collaboration with Palestinian health authorities, began vaccinating 640,000 children in the Gaza Strip on Sept 1, with Israel and Hamas agreeing to brief pauses in their 11month war to allow the campaign to go ahead.

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The United Nations, in collaboration with Palestinian health authorities, began vaccinating 640,000 children in the Gaza Strip on Sept 1, with Israel and Hamas agreeing to brief pauses in their IImonth war to allow the campaign to go ahead.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed in August that a baby was partially paralysed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years.

The campaign began in areas of central Gaza, and will move to other areas in the coming days. Fighting will pause for at least eight hours on three consecutive days.

WHO said the pauses will likely need to be extended to a fourth day, and the first round of vaccinations will take just under two weeks.

"This is the first few hours of the first phase of a massive campaign, one of the most complex in the world," said Ms Juliette Touma, communications director of UNRWA, the UN Palestinian refugee agency.

"Today is test time for parties to the conflict to respect these area pauses to allow the UNRWA teams and other medical workers to reach children with these very precious two drops. It's a race against time," Ms Touma said.

Israel and Hamas, which have so far failed to reach a deal to end the war, said they would cooperate to allow the campaign to succeed.

At one clinic alone in the central Gaza city of Deir Al-Balah, nearly 2,000 children were vaccinated on Sept 1, said Ms Louise Wateridge, a UNRWA spokeswoman.