GENEVA – The World Health Organization (WHO) is dispatching more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza over the coming weeks to safeguard children after the virus was detected in sewage samples, announced the organization’s chief, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on July 26.
“While no cases of polio have been recorded yet, without immediate action, it is just a matter of time before it reaches the thousands of children who have been left unprotected,” Dr. Tedros emphasized in an opinion piece published in The Guardian.
Children under five, especially infants under two, are at the highest risk of contracting the viral disease. Regular vaccination campaigns have been disrupted due to over nine months of ongoing conflict, exacerbating the threat, he noted.
Poliomyelitis, or polio, is a highly contagious virus spread mainly through the fecal-oral route. It can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis. Thanks to global mass vaccination efforts, cases of polio have declined by 99 percent since 1988, with ongoing efforts to eradicate the disease completely.
In response to the detection of polio remnants in sewage samples in Gaza, Israel’s military announced on July 21 that it would begin offering polio vaccines to soldiers serving in the area.
The polio threat is not the only health concern in Gaza. The UN reported a significant increase in cases of Hepatitis A, dysentery, and gastroenteritis, as deteriorating sanitary conditions have led to sewage spilling into the streets near camps for displaced people.