GAZA CITY (Palestine), Aug 30 (Bernama-Anadolu) -- Palestinian Health Minister Majed Abu Ramadan announced Friday that a polio vaccination campaign for children under the age of 10 will begin in Gaza on Sunday.
Anadolu Agency reported a statement issued by Ramadan said the campaign will begin on Sept 1 in the Deir al-Balah district of central Gaza and will continue until Sept 4.
It will then move to Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip from Sept 5 to 9, before concluding in Gaza City and the northern part of the strip from Sept 9 to 12.
The minister emphasised that vaccination equipment will be transported between areas as per schedule, and assured that the vaccines are completely safe.
He urged Gaza residents to vaccinate their children and ignore any misinformation spread by the Israeli occupation forces.
The ministry has released maps and sent text messages to inform Gaza residents about vaccination sites and schedules, it reported.
On Thursday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced an initial commitment to humanitarian cease-fires in specific areas during the polio vaccination campaign.
Rik Peeperkorn, WHO's representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, stressed the need to achieve 90 per cent vaccination coverage to prevent disease spread. He highlighted that the campaign will be conducted in two phases, but no specific dates were provided.
The agreement with the Israeli military’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) includes a three-day cease-fire in central Gaza, followed by similar cease-fires in the southern and northern regions.
On August 16, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a seven-day humanitarian truce to carry out the vaccination campaign for 640,000 children, a call supported by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
This call followed the Palestinian Health Ministry's report of Gaza's first confirmed polio case in a ten-month-old child.
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