A major effort is underway in Gaza as health officials work to protect children from polio.
Israel agreed to pause fighting in Gaza to allow for the vaccination of children against the disease, which was detected in sewage in June. The pause, starting on Sept. 1, is taking place over three days, with an option for a fourth day if more time is needed.
A ten-month-old unvaccinated child is the first confirmed human case of polio in Gaza in 25 years. The boy is now paralyzed in his left leg.
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With the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with open sewage on the streets, there is fear unvaccinated children are at greater risk of the disease.
"You find it in the wastewater, and when it causes polio," said Dr. Paul Offit of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "It only causes paralysis in about one of every 200 people, so you can assume that that strain is circulating and it's causing a much greater incidence of infection."
Health officials hope to vaccinate 640,000 Palestinian children under 10 years of age during the brief humanitarian pause. There are 1.3 million vaccine doses in cold storage in the region, which will be distributed from 160 vaccination sites.
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Officials say the tight timeline makes getting 100% of the children vaccinated extremely challenging.
"We are not doing house-to-house vaccination, people are moving, so the risk of missing children remains high," said Dr. Hamid Jafari, director of polio eradication for the World Health Organization.
Adding to the difficulty, children need multiple doses of the vaccine to be effective, weeks apart. According to the United Nations, if children don’t get a second dose, the first will not be effective. Right now, there is no guarantee of a second humanitarian pause to finish the job.
