Will the polio vaccination campaign in Gaza succeed?
Chessa Latifi, the deputy director of emergency preparedness and response at Project HOPE, said war, forced displacement and the breakdown of the healthcare system in Gaza could hinder the upcoming vaccination drive.
“I believe it’s going to be really unlikely for the vaccine campaign to reach the 90 percent of children that need to be vaccinated,” Latifi said from Los Angeles.
“There’s just no guarantee of safety. These people that need to bring their children to these clinics – first of all, do they have access to the clinics? Do they have fuel or the means to get to the clinics? Is it safe? Is it safe for the staff to get to the clinics? I know that we’ve got these brief humanitarian pauses. But is it sufficient? No,” she said.
Latifi, whose organisation operates in Gaza, also said the vaccine drive alone will not help prevent the spread of the virus.
“The vaccine campaign doesn’t address the core issue, which is the lack of hygiene, sanitation and clean water,” she said. “Because if we had those components – the clean water, the proper facilities for bathing and latrines – we wouldn’t have polio. But this infrastructure has been completely destroyed. You have people living in these ad hoc camps. It’s a really really dangerous situation.”
Maybe it will slow it down, but under these conditions there's no way of vaccinating 90% of Gaza's children, well over half a million children.
Polio vaccination programme ‘imperative’ in Gaza
Saleem Oweis, UNICEF spokesman for the Middle East and North Africa, said he hopes that the pauses in fighting to deliver the polio vaccination programme in Gaza will be “sufficient” to cover the “over 600,000 children that need to be vaccinated”.
“Polio is a highly contagious disease. The outcome is really grim – it is either paralysis or death. In these contexts, in Gaza, crowded as it is, with all the lack of basic health systems and hygiene supplies and water and all as such, it’s going to prove to be catastrophic,” Oweis told Al Jazeera.
He added that it was “imperative” to have the vaccination programme now because there is “no other option than vaccinations”.
“Polio can’t be treated, but it can be prevented and that ‘s where we need to put all the effort now and that’s what we’re trying to do and that’s why we really need this pause commitment to take place.”
First phase of polio vaccine campaign begins in central Gaza
Palestinian children wait to be vaccinated against polio, at a United Nations healthcare centre in Deir el-Balah, September 1
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a list of clinics, schools and other locations in central Gaza where children under the age of 10 can receive polio vaccines, beginning from 7:30am local time today.
“Even if your children have been vaccinated previously, bring them to the nearest vaccination point to get the emergency dose and protect them from the virus,” the WHO said in a post on X.
“Vaccination is free and safe.”
Another post in Arabic shared further details, including the times the clinics will be open.
🚨Polio vaccination campaign begins in #Gaza tomorrow.
We must do everything possible to ensure all children under ten years of age receive the vaccination.
Here's where to take your children for vaccination in central Gaza ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/bmqMcntrpl
— WHO in occupied Palestinian territory (@WHOoPt) August 31, 2024
The vaccine is safe, yet the IDF likes to bomb healthcare facilities and aid workers...
