Second batch of polio vaccines arrives in Gaza

Ramallah, Sep 4 (IANS) A shipment of 350,000 polio vaccine doses arrived in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Health Minister Majed Abu Ramadan said.

This is the second batch of vaccines, which are being stored in a dedicated warehouse for a coordinated vaccination campaign with the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef). A total of nearly 1.6 million doses are expected to arrive, enough to vaccinate all children from birth to 10-years-old with two doses each, Xinhua news agency reported.

Since Sunday, Health Ministry teams, along with the World Health Organisation, UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), and Unicef, have been conducting the vaccination campaign in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza.The campaign will extend to Khan Younis, Gaza City, and northern governorates.Abu Ramadan also urged the international community and organisations to press Israel to halt the "aggression" and allow health personnel to work in Gaza.

Till date, more than 158,000 children have been vaccinated, according to the Ministry.

UNRWA has said that the polio vaccine is very safe, with most children experiencing no side effects.

"There is no treatment for polio, but getting the vaccine is the only effective solution for preventing it," UNRWA said in a post on social platform X, urging Gaza residents to immunise their children.The vaccination campaign, which began on September 1 , will continue until September 12. This follows the first recorded case of poliovirus in Gaza in 25 years, reported in Deir al-Balah in August, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The World Health Organisation said on Tuesday that the campaign to vaccinate 640,000 children in Gaza against polio had so far been more successful than expected as families flocked to receive the treatment.

Teams of health workers delivered the two-drop oral vaccine to 161,030 children in the first two days of the nearly 10-day operation, surpassing the organisation's goal of 150,000 for the first phase of the campaign in central Gaza."It's going well," Rik Peeperkorn, the organisation's representative for the Palestinian territories, told reporters by video link from Gaza on Tuesday, describing an "almost festive" atmosphere as families went to designated sites to get their children vaccinated.