The first phase of a UN-led polio vaccination campaign has begun in the middle areas of Gaza. The operation aims to inoculate 600,000 children in the coming days.

Hundreds of Gazan families have been queueing to await the turn of their child to receive a polio vaccination since early Sunday morning, in a campaign designed to stop the resurgence of a virus whose re-emergence has been blamed on insanitary conditions.

Speaking to international media on Sunday, Sam Rose, a spokesperson for UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, said that over 200 teams are administering the vaccine in 25 locations in the middle areas of Gaza.

A race against time

In order to stop the polio outbreak in Gaza, and to prevent an international spread of the virus, health workers will need to vaccinate at least 90 percent of children during each round.

Reacting to the launch on social media, Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA described the campaign as “a race against time”.

The campaign will be delivered in stages, over three days each, covering three different areas of Gaza. Vaccination coverage will be monitored and analyzed every day, and vaccination drives will be extended by one day if necessary.

The operation – organized by UNRWA, the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Palestinian Ministry of Health –will continue in the coming days, if the temporary pause in fighting between Hamas and Israeli forces holds.

Security concerns

The UN bodies involved in the campaign and senior officials have underlined the importance of maintaining security for health workers and the Gazan population.

“For this to work, parties to the conflict must respect the temporary area pauses,” wrote Mr. Lazzarini on social media. “For the sake of children across the region a lasting ceasefire is overdue”. In another post, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of WHO, wrote that “ultimately, the best vaccine for these children is peace.”

UN chief reacts to hostage deaths

On the same day that the campaign launch was confirmed, news broke of the death of six of the hostages taken by Hamas in the October 7 2023 attacks on Israel.

The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, reacted to the news by recollecting his meeting with the family of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of the hostages reported dead on Sunday. The reports, he wrote in a social media post, are “a devastating reminder of the need for the unconditional release of all hostages and an end to the nightmare of war in Gaza.”