WHO to send 1m polio vaccines to Gaza
Palestinians make their way to return to neighbourhoods in the eastern side of Khan Younis after Israeli forces pulled out from the area, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Reuters
World Health Organization said Wednesday it will send more than one million polio vaccines to war-torn Gaza after the virus was detected in the Palestinian territory's wastewater.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said health workers need free movement within Gaza to administer the vaccines, saying that a ceasefire, or at least a few "days of tranquillity", was essential to protect Gaza's children with routine vaccinations.
"WHO is sending more than one million polio vaccines which will be administered in the coming weeks," he told a press conference.
"The detection of polio in wastewater in Gaza is a tell-tale sign that the virus has been circulating in the community, putting unvaccinated children at risk."