GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) polio vaccination drive is ahead of its targets in Gaza on day three of a mass campaign, covering around a quarter of children under the age of 10 years.
The WHO says that the campaign, which was expedited last month after the surfacing of the first polio case in a baby in Gaza, depends on daily eight-hour pauses in fighting between Israel and Hamas in specific areas of the besieged enclave.
WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian territories Rik Peeperkorn told reporters that it had vaccinated more than 161,000 children under 10 in the central area in the first two days of its campaign, compared with the target of around 150,000.
This number is around a quarter of the total population targeted in the campaign to check the spread of the disease, which can cause paralysis and even death in young children.
Expressing satisfaction with the drive so far, he said, “Up until now things are going well. These humanitarian pauses, up until now they work. We still have 10 days to go.”
He said the WHO teams will move on to southern Gaza later this week, where they target some 340,000 children, and then to northern Gaza.
Some children in southern Gaza were thought to be outside the agreed zone for the pauses and that negotiations are on to reach them, he added.
According to WHO, at least 90pc of Gaza children need vaccination, he added.