Second round of polio vaccination begins in the Gaza Strip – UNRWA

14 October 2024

Today the second round of the polio vaccination campaign began in the middle area of the Gaza Strip. Over the coming 12 days, UNRWA and partners aim to vaccinate around 590,000 children under ten years of age with a second dose of the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2).

This follows a first round, which was successfully implemented between 1-12 September 2024 and saw over 559,000 children vaccinated, an estimated 95 per cent of children under 10. Like the first round, the second round will have three phases, each involving three campaign days and one catch-up day.

The campaign is being conducted by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in collaboration with the World Health Organization, UNRWA, UNICEF, and other partners. It is part of emergency efforts to stop the polio outbreak in Gaza, which was detected in July 2024, and prevent further spread of the virus.

Speaking from the UNRWA Deir al-Balah health centre in Gaza middle area, Sam Rose, UNRWA Senior Deputy Director of Gaza Affairs, said, “Once again, it has been really encouraging to see hundreds of children getting their vaccines today at this UNRWA health centre. This polio campaign is critical, but while we protect children with vaccines, they will continue to die and suffer each day until there is a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire, which is needed more urgently than ever.”

The polio vaccination campaign begins the morning after another deadly night in the Gaza Strip. An airstrike hit the Al Aqsa hospital compound where families were sheltering in tents, and just before another strike by Israeli Forces reportedly killed over 20 people at an UNRWA school sheltering displaced families in Nuseirat. The school was meant to be used as a polio vaccination point for children today.

The safety of children, families and healthcare workers has been one of the biggest challenges during the endless forced displacement and ongoing military operations in the Gaza Strip.

UNRWA renews its urgent request to all parties to the conflict to implement the necessary humanitarian pauses in Gaza for this second round of vaccination. This is particularly critical as new evacuation orders in the north of Gaza are leaving tens of thousands of people trapped and causing additional waves of forced displacement, in addition to hugely undermining humanitarian operations in the area. People have nowhere left to go, and the humanitarian space in Gaza continues shrinking.

Without a ceasefire now, diseases will keep spreading and there will be more suffering.