To prevent a potential outbreak that could affect thousands of children
More than one million polio vaccines are being sent to Gaza by the World Health Organization (WHO) to prevent children from becoming infected after the virus was found in sewage, the head of the organization said today, Friday (July 26).
“While no polio cases are reported, it is only a matter of time before it reaches thousands of vulnerable children unless urgent action is taken,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in the article. Britain’s Guardian.
He also wrote that children under the age of five, especially infants under two, are most at risk from the viral disease as routine vaccinations have been disrupted after more than nine months of conflict.
Primarily transmitted through the faecal and oral route, poliomyelitis is a highly contagious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis. Thanks to mass vaccination campaigns, the number of polio cases worldwide has decreased by 99% since 1988, and efforts to eradicate it continue.
The Israeli army announced on Sunday that it will begin administering the polio vaccine to soldiers serving in the Gaza Strip after traces of the virus were detected in the enclave.
In addition to polio, the UN reported widespread cases of hepatitis A, dysentery and gastroenteritis in Gaza last week as a result of worsening unsanitary conditions and sewage spilling onto streets near refugee camps.