Israel and Hamas have agreed to pause fighting in the Gaza Strip for three days in three separate areas for a polio vaccination campaign, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Thursday. Rick Pepperkorn, head of the WHO office for the West Bank and Gaza, told reporters at the United Nations headquarters in New York that the polio vaccination campaign in Gaza will begin on September 1.
According to Peeperkorn, the agreement is for the truce to take place between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. local time, starting with a three-day pause in fighting in central Gaza, then another three-day pause in southern Gaza followed by a three-day pause in northern Gaza. The campaign targets around 640,000 children, with each child from birth to age 10 receiving two doses of the vaccine. The Gaza Strip recorded its first case of poliovirus infection in 25 years earlier this month.
Polio is a highly contagious viral disease that mainly affects children under the age of five. According to the WHO, it spreads primarily from person-to-person through the fecal-oral route or less commonly through contaminated water or food.
WHO Deputy Director Michael Ryan said, we want both the parties to follow whatever agreement has been made regarding the polio campaign. 90 percent coverage is necessary to stop the spread of polio at the international level. He said that 12.6 crore doses of NoPV2 have been given in Gaza. Whereas 4 lakh doses have reached Fir. The workers will go door to door and administer two drops of polio drops. In such a situation, ceasefire is very important.
The spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry in Israel said that Israel will fully assist in running a polio campaign in the Gaza Strip in collaboration with WHO and UNICEF. Hamas has also said that it will support the issue by calling it a humanitarian one. The US and the European Union had also expressed concern about polio in Gaza. The first case of polio was found here after 25 years. Symptoms of polio were seen in a 10-month-old child.