Gaza Vaccination Campaign Completed

The second round of polio vaccinations for Gazan children under 10 years old was started in mid-October, one month after completion of the first round.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) reported on Wednesday that the second round is now complete, with more than 556,000 children receiving their second dose, and more than 448,000 children between 2 and 10 years old also receiving vitamin A.

It described this as a remarkable achievement given the extremely difficult circumstances under which the campaign was executed.

After a pause due to the ongoing fighting and mass evacuation of civilians from certain areas in the Gaza Strip, aid teams resumed the campaign at the beginning of November.

Gazan children at vaccination centre (screenshot from DW video report).

The Israel Defence Forces also acknowledged the success. Its co-ordination group, COGAT, said that working with WHO and UNICEF, 1.1 million vaccines had been administered in the whole campaign, with a vaccination rate of over 90 percent among children under 10 years-old, the critical age group.

This is a truly remarkable achievement in a war zone and demonstrates the Israelis’ commitment to providing humanitarian aid for Gazan civilians.