GAZA CITY, Palestine Nearly 443,000 children received the first dose of polio vaccine in the Gaza Strip, the Health Ministry said on Sunday. However, the ministry has been waiting for Israeli approval for the last four days to coordinate access to seven additional areas in the cities of Khan Younis and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. “Some 443,000 children have received the first dose of the polio vaccine in Gaza, which constitutes 69% of the total number of children under the age of 10,” Mousa Abed, general director of primary health care at the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, told Anadolu.
Abed added: "The first phase of the vaccination campaign in the central area achieved results exceeding expectations, with 195,000 children vaccinated, which is more than the expected target of 160,000 children.” He attributed this to "an increase in the number of displaced people in central Gaza due to military operations in other areas and the Israeli evacuation orders issued after preparing the vaccination campaign plan." “There are four fixed vaccination points in the central area to vaccinate children,” Abed added.
He explained: “Medical teams were able to vaccinate 248,000 children in Rafah and Khan Younis by Saturday evening, and efforts are ongoing to complete the campaign and update the statistics after their work on Sunday.” Abed clarified that "the campaign in southern Gaza aims to vaccinate 300,000 children." He pointed out "some challenges in the easte.
