KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 9 (Bernama) -- The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) announced that its medical teams had vaccinated more than 160,000 children on Thursday – the first day of the second phase of a polio vaccination campaign in southern Gaza.
“Thousands of families went to health facilities to receive vaccines from UNRWA medical teams.
“Today (Friday) we will continue vaccinating as many children as possible,” the UN agency said on X, Friday.
UNRWA said the second phase of the polio vaccination campaign began in Khan Younis on Thursday, following the successful completion of the first phase in the centre of the enclave.
Over the next four days, health workers will target an estimated 340,000 children, in southern Gaza. Some 517 teams will be deployed, including 384 mobile teams, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The UN agency and its partners provided the first dose of polio vaccine to children under 10 years old at the Japanese Health Centre in the devastated city of Khan Younis.
“At this critical time, area pauses must be respected to protect families and humanitarian workers,” it said on X.
During the first phase, from September 1 to 3, health workers reached over 187,000 youngsters in central Gaza, exceeding the initial estimated target of 157,000.
A third and final phase will be implemented in northern Gaza from 9 to 11 September, targeting around 150,000 boys and girls.
The overall campaign aims to provide two drops of the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 to more than 640,000 children under the age of 10 during each round.
It is part of an urgent response to prevent the spread of polio, which has resurfaced in Gaza after 25 years following the detection of circulating variant poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) in six environmental samples collected from the central area of the Strip in June, UN News reported.
The campaign is being conducted by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in collaboration with WHO, UNRWA, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and other humanitarian partners.
On August 16, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a week-long ceasefire in Gaza to allow vaccinations to prevent an outbreak of polio.
--BERNAMA
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