Poliovirus vaccination campaign to start next week: Gaza health ministry 

The vaccination campaign to treat poliovirus for children in the besieged coastal enclave will start on 1st September, according to the Gaza-based Palestinian health ministry. 

"All children under the age of ten years in Gaza will be vaccinated," Majed Abu Ramadan, the Palestinian health minister, said in a press statement. 

According to Abu Ramadan, the nine-day vaccination campaign will be launched in three stages: the first one will start from Sunday until Wednesday in the city of Deir al-Balah in the centre of Gaza; the second one will start from 5 to 9 September in Khan Younis City in the south of Gaza; and the last stage will be implemented from 9 to 11 September in the north of Gaza.

Abu Ramadan said that cold chain equipment will be transferred from one area to another according to the vaccination program in each city.

The Palestinian health ministry is leading the vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip in cooperation with the World Health Organisation, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

He called on the residents of the Gaza Strip to vaccinate their children and not listen to the rumours by Israel, which tries to cast doubt on the validity of these vaccines.

The ministry published field maps showing the locations of vaccination centres and sent text messages to residents of the Gaza Strip to inform them of the dates of when to receive the vaccines.

A race against time

For its part, UNRWA reported that its health program workers in Gaza are continuing their intensive preparations and training to implement vaccination and registration operations in exceptionally complex and difficult circumstances.

UNRWA said in a press statement that more than 1,000 of its employees will participate in this complex campaign. The staff will provide vaccines to hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza, in the agency's health centres, mobile clinics and shelters, and will move from tent to tent as needed.

On Thursday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that Israel and Hamas have agreed to three separate temporary three-day ceasefires in specific locations in the Gaza Strip to carry out a polio vaccination campaign.

Rick Peeperkorn, head of the World Health Organisation's office in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, also confirmed to reporters at the United Nations headquarters in New York that the polio vaccination campaign in Gaza will begin on 1 September.

Peeperkorn explained that the agreement stipulates that the truces will be in effect between 6:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. local time, starting with central Gaza with a three-day truce, then southern Gaza with another three-day temporary truce, followed by northern Gaza.

The campaign aims to vaccinate about 640,000 children, with each child, from newly born to 10 years old, receiving two doses.

Earlier in the month, the Gaza Strip recorded its first case of polio in 25 years. Poliovirus is a highly contagious viral disease that primarily affects children under the age of five. 

Mohammed Abu al-Jidian, a 10-month-old child, is the first known official case of someone infected with the poliovirus. Neveen Abu al-Jidian, the mother of the child, told The New Arab that she was shocked when she heard the news about her baby. 

She said that her baby suddenly suffering from heat in his all body, and he could not move, which forced her to take him to the hospital. 

"There [in the hospital] the doctors took many examinations for my child, and then they informed me that he is the first infection of the virus," the woman lamented. 

She also noted that her baby has not received sufficient medical aid, food, or water to help him overcome his infection. 

"Currently, he lives in a tent in a very poor condition and no one cares for him," the mother said.

"I hope that my son will walk and be like his siblings as he was before. I demand that all institutions assist my son so that he can be treated and travel abroad for treatment and return to his normal life," she added.

According to the World Health Organisation, the disease is spread from person to person, mainly through faecal to oral transmission or, less commonly, through contaminated water or food.