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The latest round of a large-scale polio vaccination campaign in Gaza targeting nearly 600,000 young children got underway on Saturday.
It follows a campaign last year that reached hundreds of thousands of young children under the age of 10. Polio virus was recently detected in wastewater samples in Gaza, indicating that circulation is ongoing, thus putting young lives at risk.
The campaign is being led by the Palestinian Ministry of Health and implemented with support from the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA and other partners.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini wrote in post on the social media platform X that 1,700 team members are taking part across the agency’s health centres and mobile points.
Separately, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said “teams are on the ground providing support to ensure a quality campaign.”
UNRWA health teams constitute a third of the response, comprising 555 out of the total 1,660 teams involved.
They will be issuing vaccinations in 10 of its health centres: one in Rafah, three each in Khan Younis and the Middle Area, and one in Gaza City in the north. Around 60 UNRWA mobile medical points will also carry out vaccinations.
The campaign is set to run through 26 February.
