WHO to Send Over 1 Million Polio Vaccines to Gaza

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced it will dispatch more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza following the detection of the virus in wastewater, Arab News reported yesterday.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasized the urgent need for health workers to have freedom of movement to administer the vaccines, advocating for a ceasefire or at least a few days of calm to safeguard the region’s children.

On July 30, Gaza’s health ministry declared the territory a “polio epidemic zone,” attributing the resurgence of the virus to the ongoing military offensive by Israel since the October 7 Hamas attacks, which have devastated health facilities.

The CPV2 strain of the virus was identified in wastewater samples from Khan Yunis and central Gaza. Since the conflict began, Israeli military actions have resulted in significant casualties, with at least 39,677 reported deaths in Gaza, according to local health authorities.