WHO says 'humanitarian pauses' in Gaza fighting will allow for polio vaccine drive to begin Sunday

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday that “humanitarian pauses” in Gaza fighting will allow for a polio vaccine drive to begin on Sunday. 

The goal of the campaign is to vaccinate 640,000 children in the Gaza Strip amid the outbreak of the virus, according to Rik Peeperkorn, a WHO senior official for the Palestinian territories. 

The effort will kick off in central Gaza with a “humanitarian pause” that will go from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will last for three days. The initiative, which is being coordinated with Israeli authorities, will also take place in the southern and northern parts of the strip. 

“I am not going to say this is the ideal way forward. But this is a workable way forward…we have to stop [polio] transmission in Gaza and outside Gaza,” Peeperkorn said. 

The kids will each get two drops of the vaccine in two rounds. The second round would be administered four weeks following the first one. The push for vaccinating children in the war-torn enclave will be administered by WHO, UNICEF, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the Palestinian Ministry of Health. 

The campaign comes just after Palestinian health officials reported the first case of polio in a 10-month-old unvaccinated kid in Deir al-Balah. 

To stop the transmission of polio in Gaza, health workers need to vaccinate at least 90 percent of the kids there, according to WHO. To do that, the initiative will feature over 2,100 workers who will be working across Gaza. 

Polio is commonly spread through contaminated water, with the potential to cause paralysis and even death. 

Mediators — the U.S., Egypt and Qatar — have been working on a cease-fire deal between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, halting the conflict that has nearly reached 11 months. 

The war broke out after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 Israelis and taking around 250 hostages. In retaliation, Israel’s military operation has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials. The tally does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.