First shipment of polio vaccine arrives in Gaza as disease resurfaces after 25 years

Unicef says aim is for 640,000 children to be vaccinated in the Palestinian enclave amid a high risk of the disease spreading

Workers unload a shipment of polio vaccines at a Health Ministry depot in Gaza on Sunday. AFP

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Gaza has received the first batch of polio vaccines needed for a mass immunisation drive among children, following its first confirmed case in a quarter of a century.

About 1.3 million doses were delivered to the Palestinian enclave by UN children's fund Unicef through the Karam Abu Salem border crossing after the disease left a 10-month-old child paralysed, the Health Ministry said on Sunday evening. There are two other suspected cases.

Polio was eradicated from Palestine 25 years ago but returned amid a complete breakdown of sanitary infrastructure in Gaza. Its spread was exacerbated by overcrowding in Al Mawasi's “humanitarian zone” where the population density is at least 30,000 people a square kilometre, with most living in tents.

The vaccines will be stored in a Deir Al Balah warehouse equipped with a “cold chain” that will keep them at between 2ºC and 8ºC, Unicef spokesman Jonathan Crickx told The National from Jerusalem. An additional 400,000 doses will be delivered in the coming days, he said.

“This quantity is sufficient to vaccinate the targeted 640,000 children under the age of 10,” Mr Crickx said.

Polio is highly contagious and is transmitted mainly through contact with contaminated faeces, water or food.

The vaccines will be distributed from 11 health centres across the Gaza Strip, allowing children to receive their first dose, Mr Crickx said. The fingers of the children will be marked with indelible ink to prevent double vaccination.

The administering centres will be UNRWA-run, the agency said, adding that as many as 100 mobile units will be used for the campaign starting August 31.

"They will travel from tent to tent to administer the vaccines, Mr Crickx said.

However, several factors, including the continuing bombardment of Gaza, could make the campaign falter, a source at a humanitarian agency told The National.

The spread of the virus beyond Gaza's borders is another concern that has prompted Israel to provide its soldiers operating in the enclave with a booster polio dose last month.

“Polio will not make the distinction between Palestinian and Israeli children,” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said on Friday on X.

Symptoms of the disease, which mainly affects children under the age of five, can include fever, vomiting and stiffness of the limbs, according to the World Health Organisation, while one in 200 patients will be permanently paralysed. It has largely been eradicated globally but remains endemic in two countries – Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The arrival of the vaccines – a rare piece of positive news in Gaza, where more than 40,400 people have been killed – comes as patients flee Al Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital in Deir Al Balah, putting even more strain on what remains of Gaza's healthcare system.

The area surrounding the hospital has been declared a military zone, the Health Ministry announced on Sunday night, “causing panic” and prompting many to flee the hospital, currently home to 100 patients, including seven in intensive care. The medical centre currently remains open to patients, the ministry added, calling for the site to be protected.

Deir Al Balah is in central Gaza, currently the focus of intense Israeli air strikes and shelling along with the southern city of Khan Younis.

Five people were killed in a strike on a home near a hospital in Gaza city overnight, the official Wafa news agency reported, while attacks were also reported in eastern parts of Khan Younis.

Additional reporting by Nagham Mohanna