Only a “matter of days” to get second polio vaccine doses to children in northern Gaza, UNICEF says

The United Nations’ child agency, UNICEF, has warned there are only a matter of days left to administer the second dose of the polio vaccine to about 119,000 children across northern Gaza.

“If we don’t reach the roughly 119,000 children targeted for vaccination in the northern parts of Gaza, all these children are still vulnerable to poliovirus. This means they are not protected, they can contract the virus, become paralyzed and spread it to others,” UNICEF spokesperson Joe English told CNN on Wednesday.

The first dose of the polio vaccine was administered to children in the north last month, between September 10 and 12. A second dose should be administered within one to two months to provide adequate immunity to the virus and, critically, stop it from spreading in the community.

On Wednesday, the third phase of the United Nations’ polio vaccination campaign in Gaza was postponed due to “the escalating violence, intense bombardment, mass displacement orders, and lack of assured humanitarian pauses across most of northern Gaza,” according to the World Health Organization.

The WHO’s call for deescalation and humanitarian pauses comes as the Israeli military has ramped up its military operation across the north of the enclave.