"It is imperative to stop the polio outbreak as soon as possible," the World Health Organization warned, "before more children are paralyzed and poliovirus spreads further."
Image via UNRWA
By Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams
Israel's intensified bombardment of northern Gaza—which according to Palestinian officials has killed or wounded more than 1,700 people since early October—has forced a halt to the third phase of a polio vaccination campaign scheduled to begin Wednesday.
"Due to the escalating violence, intense bombardment, mass displacement orders, and lack of assured humanitarian pauses across most of northern Gaza, the Polio Technical Committee for Gaza—including the Palestinian Ministry of Health, World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), and partners—have been compelled to postpone the third phase of the polio vaccination campaign, which was set to begin today," WHO said in a statement Wednesday. "This final phase of the ongoing campaign aimed to vaccinate 119,279 children across northern Gaza."
"The current conditions, including ongoing attacks on civilian infrastructure, continue to jeopardize people's safety and movement in northern Gaza, making it impossible for families to safely bring their children for vaccination, and health workers to operate," the agency continued.
On Tuesday, UNRWA staffers in northern Gaza issued a desperate plea to the international community as Israeli forces continued to massacre Palestinians and besiege area medical facilities. More than 100,000 wounded and sick Palestinians urgently need medical treatment that is unavailable as area hospitals cannot operate.
"People are just waiting to die," UNRWA said. "They feel deserted, hopeless, and alone. They live from one hour to the next, fearing death at every second."
Following numerous warnings, Gaza earlier this year recorded its first case of polio since the highly contagious virus—which often causes paralysis and can kill—was eradicated there 25 years ago, prompting calls by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and others for a temporary truce to enable a vaccination drive.
"It is impossible to conduct a polio vaccination campaign with war raging all over," the U.N. chief said at the time after a 10-month-old infant became Gaza's first new poliomyelitis case this century.
In late August, Israel agreed to a staggered series of three-day "polio pauses" to allow healthcare workers to fan out across the enclave and vaccinate 640,000 children under the age of 10. However, Israel's recent escalation in northern Gaza is threatening to derail much of the progress made so far.
According to the WHO:
To interrupt poliovirus transmission, at least 90% of all children in every community and neighborhood must be vaccinated—a prerequisite for an effective campaign to interrupt the outbreak and prevent its further spread. Humanitarian pauses are essential for its success, allowing partners to deliver vaccination supplies to health facilities, families to safely access vaccination sites, and mobile teams of health workers to reach children in their communities. A delay in administering a second dose of [vaccine] within six weeks reduces the impact of two closely spaced rounds on concurrently boosting the immunity of all children and interrupting poliovirus transmission. Having a significant number of children miss out on their second vaccine dose will seriously jeopardize efforts to stop the transmission of poliovirus in Gaza. This could also lead to further spread of poliovirus in the Gaza Strip and neighboring countries, with the risk of more children being paralyzed.
"It is imperative to stop the polio outbreak as soon as possible, before more children are paralyzed and poliovirus spreads further," WHO asserted. "It is crucial therefore that the vaccination campaign in northern Gaza is facilitated through the implementation of the humanitarian pauses, ensuring access for wherever eligible children are located."
"WHO and UNICEF urge all parties to ensure that civilians, health workers, and civilian infrastructure, such as schools, shelters, hospitals, are protected and renew their call for an immediate cease-fire," the agency added.
Earlier this month, the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory released a report detailing how "Israel has perpetrated a concerted policy to destroy Gaza's healthcare system as part of a broader assault on Gaza, committing war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination with relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities."
Israel's obliteration of Gaza's healthcare infrastructure and targeting of healthcare and medical workers has been entered as evidence in the South Africa-led genocide case currently before the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Meanwhile, as Common Dreams reported Wednesday, Israel's bombardment and invasion of Lebanon—which has killed and wounded thousands of people while displacing around 1.2 million others in recent weeks—is causing a health crisis in which cholera and other diseases are rapidly spreading.
Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams.
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