WHO To Dispatch One Million Polio Vaccines To Gaza

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that it will send over one million polio vaccines to Gaza. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, said that the vaccines will be administered to children in the coming weeks. The UN agency made this decision following the reports that highly infectious polio virus has been found in sewage samples in Gaza.

In an opinion piece in The Guardian newspaper, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that no cases of polio virus have been recorded yet in the region. "While no cases of polio have been recorded yet, without immediate action, it is just a matter of time before it reaches the thousands of children who have been left unprotected," wrote the health agency chief. He also noted that the decimation of the health system, lack of security, destruction of infrastructure, and shortage of medical supplies have prevented children in the region from receiving many lifesaving vaccines. 

The UN agency said on July 16 that vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 had been identified at six locations in sewage samples collected from Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah. Reports indicate that various UN agencies are working with local health authorities to determine how far the virus has spread. A recent Oxfam report mentioned that Israel has destroyed 70% of all sewage pumps and 100% of all wastewater treatment plants in Gaza. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that such conditions present the "perfect breeding ground for disease to spread."