Polio Vaccines for More Than 1 Million People Arrive in Gaza, Israel Says

Palestinians displaced by the war in Gaza walk through a street market in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on June 29, 2024. Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo

Polio vaccines for more than 1.25 million people have entered the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing, Israel’s civilian coordination agency for the Palestinian territories (COGAT) said on Sunday.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed on Aug. 17 the detection of the first case of polio in 25 years in the enclave, which involved a 10-month-old baby.

COGAT stated on social media platform X that the vaccines were delivered in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) as part of their humanitarian efforts in the Palestinian territories.

The agency said that international and local medical teams will administer the vaccines “at various locations in Gaza” in the coming days to children who have not yet been vaccinated against polio.

The vaccination drive will be conducted in coordination with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as part of “routine humanitarian pauses” to allow civilians access to health facilities.

Gaza’s Health Ministry also confirmed that it received 1.26 million doses of polio vaccines on Sunday, saying that “preparations are underway to launch the campaign in coordination with the partners.”

The IDF said on Aug. 18 that COGAT has coordinated the entry of 2.82 million doses of polio vaccines into Gaza since the war broke out last year, following the Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023.

Polio is a highly infectious viral disease that spreads through the fecal-oral route or through contaminated water or food. It mainly affects children under the age of 5 and can cause total paralysis within hours of infection, according to the WHO.

Symptoms of polio may include fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, neck stiffness, and pain in the limbs. The WHO said that one in 200 infections results in irreversible paralysis, usually in the legs, and this condition can be fatal when the breathing muscles become immobilized.

Call for Humanitarian Pause

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, said on X on Friday that the 10-month-old baby had been paralyzed by the poliovirus.

He said that delaying a humanitarian pause would increase the risk of spread among children in the enclave.

“It is not enough to bring the vaccines into Gaza + protect the cold chain. To have an impact, the vaccines must end up in the mouths of every child under the age of 10,” Lazzarini stated.

Poliovirus was detected in July in wastewater samples collected from Gaza’s Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, at which hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinian civilians have sought shelter.

Both UNICEF and the WHO have called for a seven-day humanitarian pause in Gaza to allow vaccination campaigns to occur and ensure that civilians can safely reach health facilities.

Humanitarian aid groups aim to launch two rounds of a polio vaccination campaign across the Gaza Strip in late August and September, with 1.6 million doses of vaccines expected to be delivered, the WHO said.

The agency stated that 95 percent vaccination coverage is required during each round of the campaign to reduce the spread of polio amid the “severely disrupted” health, water, and sanitation systems in the Gaza Strip.