Day 1 of Gaza temporary ceasefire, 72,000 kids vaccinated

Gaza: The polio vaccination campaign is ongoing in Gaza with the joint efforts of the United Nations and the local Ministry of Health authorities. Yesterday, about 72,000 children were vaccinated.

According to Arab media, a temporary ceasefire has been established in some areas of Gaza during this campaign. On Sunday, the polio vaccination campaign officially began in the Gaza Strip, which was announced by an official of the Ministry of Health in Gaza while talking to AFP.

The United Nations announced that the campaign would be phased into all areas of the Palestinian Strip, which has been suffering nearly 11 months of devastating war, along with a ‘humanitarian cease-fire,’ the terms of which are not entirely clear.

The United Nations announced a vaccination drive after the first case of polio in a quarter of a century in the Gaza Strip last month, when a 10-month-old baby in the central Gaza Strip was diagnosed with poliovirus.

Louise Wattridge, spokesperson for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), confirmed that nearly 2,000 children were vaccinated against polio at a clinic in Deir al-Balah on Sunday.

In Gaza, the Ministry of Health announced that it had immunised 72,611 children on the first day of the campaign.

Poliovirus is often spread through sewage and contaminated water, is highly contagious, can cause permanent disfigurement and paralysis, and can be fatal. It primarily affects children under the age of five.

The United Nations sent 1.26 million doses of the oral vaccine, vaccinating many children in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip ahead of the campaign's official launch on Saturday.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) announced that Israel had agreed to a series of ‘humanitarian ceasefires’ lasting every three days in central Gaza, the south, and the north to carry out a vaccination campaign for 640,000 children across Gaza, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that the temporary ceasefire ‘is not a ceasefire’.

Field reports received on Sunday did not indicate shelling or military operations until 2:00pm, which was initially set for the end of the ceasefire.

In the Gaza Strip, the Ministry of Health and UN agencies have identified 67 immunisation centers. 59 centers have been established in hospitals, dispensaries, and schools in central Gaza, and 33 centers in the south. In northern Gaza, this campaign will be launched in the second and third phases.

It is pertinent to note that as a result of the Israeli bombing in Gaza, more than 40,000 Palestinians have been martyred since October 7, 2023. While more than 92,000 have been injured, in which the majority are women and children, while thousands are missing.