The vaccination campaign against polio in war-torn Gaza has gone as planned, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Nine out of ten children under the age of ten have received the first of two vaccine doses.
We assess that we have likely achieved the goal, says the UN agency's spokesperson in the Palestinian areas, Rik Peeperkorn.
After the first confirmed polio case in 25 years, a large-scale vaccination campaign was launched last week, targeting over 640,000 children in Gaza.
To make this possible, local "humanitarian pauses" have been made in the fighting. A second phase of the campaign is planned to take place in about four weeks, when children will be given a second vaccine dose.
Polio is highly contagious and spreads mainly among children. In about one in every hundred cases, the disease attacks the nerves in the spinal cord, which can lead to paralysis and death.
