Peace ‘best vaccine’ for children in Gaza: WHO

By Esra Tekin

ISTANBUL (AA) - Chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Sunday that the “best vaccine” for children in Gaza is “peace,” as a polio vaccination campaign was launched.

“Children in Gaza are receiving much-needed polio vaccines today. Ultimately, the best vaccine for these children is peace,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The polio vaccination campaign, covering more than 640,000 children under the age of 10 in the Gaza Strip, has been launched in cooperation with the WHO, the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The WHO announced that the vaccination campaign in Deir al-Balah, located in central Gaza, would continue until Sept. 4.

In Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza where Israeli attacks continue, the polio vaccination campaign for children under 10 began Saturday evening.

Richard Peeperkorn, the WHO's representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, stated that the polio vaccination campaign would consist of “two rounds.”

On Aug. 16, the Palestinian health minister announced the detection of the first polio case in the Gaza Strip.