WHO says one-quarter of Gaza children vaccinated against polio in 2 days

The World Health Organization said a “wildly complex” polio vaccination campaign in Gaza has already reached more than one-quarter of all children targeted across the strip in the first two days of its rollout.

Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, said more than 161,000 children have been vaccinated out of the 640,000 targeted under a humanitarian pause that is “area specific” – with the first phase now underway in central Gaza.

“We surpassed the estimated target,” he told reporters at a U.N. briefing in Geneva by videoconference from Gaza. “Until now, things are going well … This is only the third day. We still have 10 days to go at least.”

Peeperkorn said more than 500 teams had fanned out across Gaza as part of the campaign against an outbreak of vaccine-derived polio in Gaza. WHO has said Israel agreed to limited pauses in the fighting to facilitate the campaign.