WHO describes polio vaccination campaign in Gaza Strip as ‘massive success’

September 13 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The World Health Organization (WHO) has described the polio vaccination campaign carried out in the Gaza Strip over the past few weeks as a “massive success”, with more than 560,000 children under the age of ten receiving the vaccine during the first of two planned rounds, which was completed on Thursday.

“This is a massive success amid the tragic daily reality of life in the Gaza Strip,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on his social media account X. “Imagine what a ceasefire could achieve,” he added.

“We admire the entire medical team that carried out this complex operation. We express our deep gratitude to the families for their trust and collaboration,” he said.

The vaccination campaign is being carried out in three phases over several days to administer the first of the two doses of the vaccine. The first was focused on the centre of the enclave, while the second took place in the south. Finally, the third has been carried out in the north of the Gaza Strip.

In August, the WHO confirmed a case of polio in a 10-month-old baby in the centre of the Palestinian enclave amid the Israeli offensive, the first such case confirmed in the Gaza Strip in 25 years. The poliovirus was detected in environmental samples in Khan Yunis and Deir el-Balah.