Gaza Launches Second Round of Polio Vaccination Campaign Amidst Ongoing Crisis

The Gaza Strip’s Health Ministry has launched the second round of a polio vaccination campaign in the war-ravaged territory, The Associated Press reports.

The campaign aims to administer a second dose of the polio vaccine to children under 10, starting in the central part of Gaza and expanding to the north and south over the next three days.

This initiative follows the territory’s first polio case in 25 years – a 10-month-old boy who is now paralyzed in one leg. The first round of vaccinations, which began last month, successfully reached around 560,000 children despite numerous challenges, including ongoing fighting, breakdown of law and order, and widespread damage to infrastructure.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that humanitarian pauses, intended to facilitate the campaign, were largely observed last month.