WHO to send 1.2m polio vaccines to Gaza after outbreak warning

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced plans to send 1.2 million polio vaccines to Gaza after the virus was detected in wastewater.

The agency’s chief, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, outlined plans for two rounds of vaccination, targeting 600,000 children under the age of eight. The first round is due to start on 17 August.

Polio is a serious infectious disease that causes a fever – and, in some cases, can lead to paralysis or death. It is spread primarily through contact with faecal matter.

Gaza remains the focus of a 10-month-long Israeli military operation which has left only 16 out of 36 of the territory’s hospitals even partially functional.

It will be a “huge logistical challenge” to ensure the 1.2 million vaccine doses are deployed successfully, said WHO official Andrea King.

Vaccines need to be continuously stored in a limited temperature range – from the moment they are manufactured until they are administered – which presents a technical challenge during ongoing hostilities.

The WHO called for a ceasefire and requested “absolute freedom of movement” during the rollout of the vaccine programme. It said it was in the process of obtaining the necessary approvals to enter Gaza.

However, previous calls for a ceasefire on humanitarian grounds have not been granted by Israel.

The Israeli military said in July it had begun vaccinating its soldiers against the disease.

Testing run by WHO last month showed that sewage samples collected in two areas of Gaza were positive for polio.

The genetic nature of the samples indicated they had been circulating in Gaza “for some time, maybe as early as since September of last year”, WHO polio specialist Dr Hamed Jafari said in July.

He added that Gaza offered “ideal conditions” for polio transmission, because of “displacement, overcrowding, sewage contamination, lack of clean water”.

The WHO says immunisation rates in Gaza and the occupied West Bank were optimal before the conflict. Polio vaccine coverage was estimated at 99% in 2022, although it had declined to 89% last year, according to the latest data.

Last week, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said the territory had become a “polio epidemic zone”. It blamed the reappearance of the virus on Israel’s military offensive and the resulting destruction of health facilities.

The WHO says that fewer than half of Gaza’s primary healthcare facilities are operational.

As many as 70% of sewage pumps in Gaza have been destroyed and not a single wastewater treatment plant is working, the agency said, presenting the “perfect breeding ground” for disease to spread.

Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,677 people, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. Its figures do not distinguish between civilian and militant deaths.

Israel’s offensive began in response to Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others back to Gaza as hostages.