WHO says 92% of targeted children under polio campaign vaccinated

Published February 25,2025

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The World Health Organization (WHO) introduced on Tuesday that 92% of the focused kids within the ongoing polio vaccination marketing campaign in Gaza have been vaccinated because the initiative started on Saturday.

WHO consultant within the occupied Palestinian territory, Richard Peeperkorn, informed a UN press briefing in Geneva that 547,848 kids below the age of 10 have acquired the polio vaccine out of the 591,000 focused.

“Despite some rain and cold, parents brought their children to the vaccination centers, while mobile teams actively reached out to communities,” he mentioned.

The marketing campaign, launched to cease poliovirus circulation following optimistic environmental samples from Deir al Balah and Khan Younis, is supported by 1,660 vaccination groups and over 1,200 social mobilizers, he mentioned.

Two earlier vaccination rounds in September and October 2024 reached over 95% of youngsters, however entry challenges in areas comparable to Jabalia, Beit Lahiya, and Beit Hanoun left about 7,000 kids unvaccinated, in response to Peeperkorn.

“The recent ceasefire means health workers have considerably better access now,” he mentioned, including that sustained peace is essential not just for the polio marketing campaign however for all vaccine-preventable ailments.

He additionally underscored the necessity for clear water, sanitation, and healthcare entry to guard kids from preventable ailments.

– OVER $7B NEEDED FOR HEALTH SECTOR RECOVERY

Citing a joint evaluation by the World Bank, the European Union, and the UN, Peeperkorn mentioned Gaza’s well being sector has suffered in depth harm, with 772 well being services both utterly or partially destroyed, resulting in an estimated financial lack of $1.3 billion.

Losses in healthcare performance and workforce disruptions have amounted to $6.3 billion, additional exacerbating the area’s well being disaster.

The whole estimated wants for the well being sector restoration — cut up between reconstruction prices and repair supply wants — are projected to exceed $7 billion, he mentioned.

The WHO additionally reported that since February 1,889 sufferers, together with 335 kids, have been evacuated by way of the Rafah crossing. Since October 2023, a complete of 6,295 sufferers — 4,640 of them kids — have been evacuated.

Peeperkorn drew consideration to the tens of 1000’s of individuals needing medical evacuation and urged: “We need to expand the medical corridors, … including the corridor to the East Jerusalem hospitals and the West Bank, otherwise, we will be medivacing (medical evacuating) for years to come.”