In an urgent effort to safeguard children under 10 years of age, the Palestinian Health Ministry, under the leadership of Health Minister Majed Abu Ramadan, is poised to launch a significant polio vaccination drive across Gaza.
This campaign, scheduled for the upcoming days, is in collaboration with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the World Health Organization.
During a press conference on Saturday, Minister Abu Ramadan detailed that the vaccination effort would unfold in two phases.
Initially, 1.2 million doses of the type II polio vaccine have been secured, with plans to procure an additional 400,000 doses underway.
“The government prioritizes this matter supremely, employing every available resource to protect our children,” stated Abu Ramadan.
He revealed that a comprehensive and integrated plan had been formulated in recent weeks to implement a widespread vaccination campaign against polio in Gaza.
Highlighting the urgency, the minister mentioned that the detection of one polio case usually indicates the presence of hundreds more that remain undiagnosed, noting that out of every 200 polio infections, symptoms might appear mild like a runny nose or a fever, but one in every 200 cases can show severe polio symptoms.
To date, three suspected cases have been documented across three provinces, with one confirmed positive.
Minister Abu Ramadan also emphasized the dire health crisis resulting from the “brutal Israeli aggression on Gaza,” as noted by international bodies.
He explained that the lack of basic sanitation, accumulation of waste in streets and around displacement shelters, and unsafe drinking water conditions have created a breeding ground for various epidemics, including waterborne diseases like the vaccine-derived poliovirus and viral hepatitis A.
He urgently appealed to the international community and global health organizations to intervene immediately to “halt the barbaric Israeli aggression on Gaza, create conditions conducive to saving lives, and promptly provide essential health care services, along with rebuilding safe drinking water systems, sewage, and medical waste disposal facilities.”
The health ministry recorded the first case of the poliovirus in a 10-month-old child in Deir al-Balah, who had not received any immunization doses.
Upon exhibiting symptoms consistent with polio, the diagnosis was confirmed following necessary tests conducted in Amman, Jordan.
