The European Union on Thursday joined a call by the United Nations Secretary General and the World Health Organisation urging ‘’immediate humanitarian pauses’’ to enable the vaccination of all children in Gaza against the poliovirus.
The Gaza Strip has been polio-free for the last 25 years. It is alarming that poliovirus was detected and that the first case was confirmed there again in July affecting children, the EU said in a statement;
‘’An epidemic among a population already weakened by over 10 months of fighting and displacement, malnourishment, lack of basic health services, and deplorable sanitary conditions, as well as further spread internationally, must be avoided,’’ the statement said.
Two rounds of the vaccination campaign are expected to be rolled out in the Strip in the coming weeks in collaboration with the World Health Organisation and UNICEF, providing two drops of novel oral polio vaccine type 2 to more than 640 000 children under ten years of age.
‘’The EU welcomes the delivery of more than 1.2 million oral polio vaccines as well as the cooperation by Israel in delivering the vaccines to Gaza, and underlines the importance of further cooperation by all sides with WHO, UNRWA and UNICEF to conduct the vaccination rollout,’’ the statement added.
The EU said it has consistently reiterated its concern about the catastrophic situation in Gaza and supported the ongoing negotiations for a deal on a ceasefire and the release of all hostages.
Quoting a senior State Department official, the Washington Post reported that Israel has agreed to temporarily halt some military operations in the Gaza Strip to allow for a polio vaccination campaign.
The decision reportedly comes after Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the issue during their meeting last week.
Last week, several Israeli infectious disease organizations jointly called on the country’s health and defense ministers to order an immediate pause in Gaza. Their aim was to enable a widespread vaccination drive to combat the rapidly spreading poliovirus in the territory.
The medical associations warned that the polio outbreak in Gaza poses a risk to Israeli soldiers in the strip, those dealing with imprisoned Palestinian terrorists and the hostages, including unvaccinated infant Kfir Bibas.