The WHO hopes to start the second round of vaccination against polio in Gaza on October 14

The World Health Organization said Friday it hopes to give hundreds of thousands of children in war-torn Gaza, where diseases are spreading rapidly, a second dose of polio vaccine from October 14.

The WHO said it was in discussions about the date with Israel, which has been at war in the densely populated Gaza Strip since October 7.

Much of the territory is in ruins and the majority of its 2.4 million residents have been forced to flee their homes as a result of Israel’s military onslaught – often taking refuge in cramped and unsanitary conditions.

“We have requested the start of the second round of the polio campaign on October 14… and we expect the vaccination to be completed by October 29,” said Ayadil Saparbekov, the WHO’s senior official for emergencies in the Palestinian territories.

In August, Gaza reported its first confirmed case of polio in 25 years.

In an effort to prevent an epidemic of the highly contagious viral disease, the United Nations health agency launched a mass vaccination campaign in the area on September 1, aiming to administer a first oral dose of vaccine to more than 640,000 children under 10 years of age .

Discussions were underway about providing the second dose in October with the Israeli Ministries of Defense and Health and partners on the ground in Gaza, Saparbekov said.

According to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, two doses of vaccine should be administered four weeks apart to prevent the spread of the virus, which was discovered in sewage samples in Gaza in June.

Fear of other cases

A United Nations convoy carrying polio vaccination workers was held at gunpoint at an Israeli military checkpoint on September 9, shots were fired and the vehicles were rammed by a bulldozer, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, said at the time.

The WHO is keen to prevent an epidemic of variant poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) after it was discovered in a 10-month-old baby in Gaza in August.

Hamas’ attack in Israel on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians and including a number of hostages, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 41,802 people in the Hamas-held area, according to the Health Ministry.

The UN, which says the data is reliable, says most of the deaths in Gaza are women and children.