Palestinian children are examined by a doctor at Nasser hospital;
Credit: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations will start vaccinating some 640,000 children in the Gaza Strip against polio on Sunday 1 September 2024, a campaign that relies on daily eight-hour pauses in fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in specific areas of the besieged enclave.
The complex campaign, which is targeting children under age 10, follows confirmation last week that a baby was paralysed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years.
WHO officials say at least 90% of the children need to be vaccinated twice with four weeks between doses for the campaign to succeed, but it faces huge challenges in Gaza, which has been largely destroyed by nearly 11 months of war.
