Israeli military says Gaza polio vaccination campaign completed

The Israeli military said on Wednesday aid organizations had completed a second polio vaccination round for children in Gaza, administering more than 1.1 million vaccinations in different areas of the enclave, achieving 90% coverage.

Limits on the area covered by a humanitarian pause in the fighting to conduct the campaign, meant the campaign in northern Gaza was largely restricted to the area around Gaza City, the World Health Organization said.

The polio campaign began on Sept. 1 after the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed in August that a baby was partially paralysed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years.

Out of a total of 1,107,541 vaccinations for children across Gaza there were 211,170 vaccinations in northern Gaza, 379,361 vaccinations in central Gaza and 517,070 vaccinations in southern Gaza, the military said in a statement.

COGAT, the military agency that deals with Palestinian civilian affairs, has been working with international agencies to coordinate the campaign, which requires two vaccine doses per child.

On Tuesday, Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO representative in the Palestinian Territories, said the mass evacuations from areas in northern Gaza where the Israeli military has been operating for more than a month, had made it difficult to estimate the number of children who might be missed in the north.

The first round of the polio vaccination campaign, which began on Sept. 1, reached its target of 90% of children under 10 years of age, according to the United Nations.