WHO deplores postponement of 2nd-dose polio vaccination in Gaza

By Nur Asena Erturk

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday deplored the postponement of the second-dose polio vaccination in Gaza.

It announced in a statement that the WHO, UNICEF, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), and partners were “compelled to postpone” the third phase of the campaign “which was set to begin today.”

“Escalating violence, intense bombardment, mass displacement orders, and lack of assured humanitarian pauses across most of northern Gaza” forced the institutions to take the decision in disfavor of “119,279 children across northern Gaza.”

Meanwhile, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted on X that the significant number of children missing out on their second dose will “seriously jeopardize efforts to stop the transmission of poliovirus in Gaza.”

WHO also warned about the “further spread” of poliovirus in neighboring countries, “with the risk of more children being paralyzed.”

The first round of vaccination was carried out across the Gaza Strip between Sept. 1-12, the statement read, and stressed that “the area currently approved for temporary humanitarian pauses was substantially reduced — now limited only to Gaza City — a significant decrease from the first round.”

The organization called for an immediate cease-fire, as well as for “humanitarian pauses, ensuring access for wherever eligible children are located.”

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire, Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.

Mediation efforts led by the US, Egypt, and Qatar to reach a Gaza cease-fire and prisoner swap agreement between Israel and Hamas have failed over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to end the war.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.