Humanitarian Pauses Vital for Critical Polio Vaccination Campaign in Gaza: Because What's a Few Drops Amid the Bombs?

In an unprecedented appeal that could only be made in the absurdity of our times, WHO and UNICEF are requesting a seven-day "pause" in the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip. But don’t get too excited; this isn’t for peace talks or ceasefires—no, this is for something far more important: polio vaccinations!

Yes, you read that right. Amid the rubble and smoke, as buildings crumble and lives are torn apart, there’s a tiny bit of hope—two drops of novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2), to be exact. Over 640,000 children under ten years of age in Gaza are due to receive these drops during two rounds of a campaign planned for the end of August and September 2024. Because let’s face it, if you’re dodging missiles, the least you should be spared from is polio, right?

The poliovirus, that pesky little bugger, was detected in environmental samples from Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah back in July. And because three children showing symptoms of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) weren’t dealing with enough, their stool samples were sent on a magical mystery tour to the Jordan National Polio Laboratory for testing.

In the spirit of things that have gone incredibly wrong, 1.6 million doses of nOPV2 will be transported through Ben Gurion Airport. Yes, vaccines will cross paths with the weapons—because nothing says “timely reception and delivery” like routing through a war zone.

Seven days of no bombings? That’s the big ask. Just long enough for 708 teams, consisting of 2,700 health workers, to dash through the conflict zones, dodging fire to administer vaccines. The success of this mission? Aiming for at least 95% vaccination coverage because, apparently, fighting a virus requires nearly as much precision as dodging artillery.

But it’s not just the bombs that need to pause. There's a laundry list of other requirements for this mission to be remotely possible—cash, fuel, and functional telecommunication networks because spreading the word about vaccination campaigns through smoke signals or megaphones under fire doesn’t quite cut it.

Polio had been a ghost of Gaza’s past—polio-free for 25 years. But like all things that refuse to stay buried, it’s making a comeback, much like every bad sequel. The humanitarian community warned about this for the last ten months, but who listens to them anyway? Well, maybe now’s a good time to start.

In summary, while the world’s superpowers debate and fight over the big issues, in Gaza, they’re just asking for a tiny pause in the chaos—for the smallest, most fragile among us to receive two tiny drops that could mean the difference between a life of movement and one of paralysis. If only stopping the madness were as easy as administering those two drops.