Gaza Polio Vaccination Rate Likely Exceeds 90％; UNRWA Health Director Praises ‘Miraculous’ Rollout

By Shigeki Tao / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

6:00 JST, September 19, 2024

JERUSALEM — The polio vaccination rate seemed to have reached over 90% in the Palestinian territory of Gaza, an official of the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees said Monday. Polio vaccinations were administered on a large scale from Sept. 1-13.

“We achieved this much thanks to the resilience of the people in Gaza amid the extraordinary circumstances of the ongoing war,” Akihiro Seita, the director of health for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said in an online interview with Japanese media outlets.

In order to conduct the vaccinations, Israel and the Hamas militant group agreed to pause fighting in central, southern and northern parts of Gaza in stages.

A total of 559,161 children under the age of 10 received the vaccine. The target population may have been lower than the initial estimate of around 640,000, so UNRWA is currently reexamining the figure.

“It is practically a miracle that we were able to achieve this while the fighting continued outside the designated time and place,” Seita said.

Two doses of the vaccine are required, and the second rollout is expected to begin in mid-October. If the fighting continues through that point, UNRWA will request another pause in fighting and will discuss its actualization with Israel based on circumstances.

However, Seita also called for an immediate ceasefire saying, “Vaccinations should not be done in such adverse conditions.”