ISTANBUL

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced Friday it will send over one million doses of polio vaccines to Gaza.

Organization's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced vaccines will be administered to children in the coming weeks, according to the organization’s website.

He noted no polio cases have been recorded yet, but without immediate action, it is “just a matter of time before it reaches the thousands of children who have been left unprotected.”

This initiative aims to protect children in Gaza from polio, a highly infectious disease attacking the nervous system, especially amid ongoing health challenges exacerbated by the current humanitarian situation in the region.

The UN health agency’s decision follows reports of significant health vulnerabilities in Gaza, where access to healthcare is severely limited due to deadly Israeli attacks since October last.

WHO earlier expressed "extreme" concern over a possible mass outbreak of polio in Gaza following the recent detection of poliovirus in sewage. It reported poliovirus type two has been found in at least six wastewater samples in Gaza.

While UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimated that 99% of children in the region received their third dose of the polio vaccine in 2022, this coverage fell to 89% in 2023.

Polio mostly affects young children and can lead to spinal and respiratory paralysis, and in some cases, death.

Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

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