Despite the fear of the ongoing fighting, Adli Abu Taha made it to Nasser Hospital in Gaza today, where the vaccination campaign crept into action, a day early. His eleven-month-old son was the first to receive the coveted drops of the vaccine.
– As soon as we heard that the polio vaccination would start, I came here, he tells the Reuters news agency.
Adli Abu Taha is one of many parents in Gaza who is worried that his child has already been infected with the disease, or is at risk of becoming infected.
In mid-August, ten-month-old Abd al-Rahman was diagnosed with polio, type 2 – the first case in 25 years in Gaza. He is paralyzed in one leg.
The World Health Organization fears that several hundred children are already carrying the virus, without showing symptoms.
The virus has been discovered in sewage – a nightmare in overcrowded refugee camps, without basic sanitary infrastructure.
Blue cooler bags
Officials from the Gaza Ministry of Health delivered the vaccine in small blue cooler bags to the Nasser Shed today. Keeping the vaccine cold is one of the major challenges in devastated Gaza.
– I was worried and scared because polio is terrible, this disease makes the children unable to move, eat or drink, and they are forced to live with it, it’s scary, says Marwa al-Qot, internally displaced person from the north made it to the hospital with her little daughter.
A small number of children are said to have received a first dose during the day, but the goal is that 640,000 children, under the age of ten, will be reached during the campaign, which is supposed to begin on a full scale tomorrow.
Pause in the fighting
For eight hours a day, Israel has committed to resting the weapons in the hundreds of places where the vaccination is to be held. The campaign begins in central Gaza, then the same procedure is to be repeated in the southern and northern parts of the area.
But the challenges are many and difficult. Half of Gaza’s hospitals are unusable, 65 percent of the roads are damaged and 90 percent of the population is displaced.
A second dose
1.26 million doses of the vaccine have been delivered to Gaza this week and another 400,000 doses are said to be on their way.
In a month, Gaza’s children must receive a second dose.