Today's Edition
Geneva (dpa)
The World Health Organization (WHO) is negotiating with Israel for new ceasefires in the Gaza Strip to vaccinate children against polio for a second time.
The authorities have been presented with plans for a vaccination campaign between October 14 and 29, Ayadil Saparbekov, WHO emergency relief officer for the occupied Palestinian Territories, said on Friday.
The plan is to provide a necessary second dose to 590,000 children under the age of 10. They will also receive vitamin A to strengthen their immune systems.
At the beginning of September, the Israeli army observed ceasefires limited in time and location so that volunteers could care for children in vaccination centres and during home visits. Saparbekov said the same commitments are needed this time.
The Gaza Strip had been polio-free for 25 years. Due to the mass displacements and the unsanitary conditions in which people have had to live for months, the virus that can cause polio has reappeared in water samples.
So far, one baby has been found to have been infected with the virus.
