Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A ten-month-old child in Gaza has been confirmed stricken with polio, as several other children have displayed symptoms consistent with the disease, which can cause paralysis and death. Polio had been eradicated in Gaza years ago, but the highly unsanitary conditions created by the Israeli military’s indiscriminate destruction of Gaza have allowed it to fester once again.
UN Secretary General António Guterres issued a statement, saying,
- “Gaza is in a humanitarian freefall.
Just when it seems the situation could not get worse for Palestinians in Gaza, the suffering grows – and the world watches.
In recent weeks, the poliovirus has been detected in wastewater samples in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah.
That means the virus is now circulating, with hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza at risk.
Polio does not care about dividing lines – and polio does not wait.
Preventing and containing the spread of polio will take a massive, coordinated and urgent effort.
The United Nations is poised to launch a vital polio vaccine campaign in Gaza for more than [640,000] children under the age of 10.
The World Health Organization has approved the release of 1.6 million doses of the polio vaccine.”
Guterres points out that in order to vaccinate 640,000 Palestinian children in Gaza, the UNRWA and other health workers on the ground will need to administer the shots in two rounds: “The vaccination effort will include 708 teams at hospitals and primary health care centres – many of which are barely functioning — and by 316 community outreach teams throughout Gaza.”
Polio experts will have to join other health workers in Gaza, a very dangerous environment in which the Israeli Army often fires on medics, journalists and other non-military targets. Because of this indiscriminate behavior on the part of the Israeli military, the only practical way to mount such an inoculation effort is to have a ceasefire in Gaza.
Guterres said, “above all, a successful polio vaccination campaign needs safety. Safety for health workers to do their jobs. Safety for children and families to get to the health facilities. And safety for those health facilities to be protected from bombardment. I am appealing to all parties to provide concrete assurances right away guaranteeing humanitarian pauses for the campaign.”
He is calling it the “polio pause.”
Even just keeping the vaccines refrigerated is a daunting task.
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