UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday said that the United Nations plans to launch a two-phase polio vaccine campaign in Gaza for more than 640,000 children under the age of 10, and called for a “polio pause” in the war-torn region.

Speaking to reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, Guterres said that in recent weeks, poliovirus has been detected in wastewater samples in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah, meaning that the virus, which can cause paralysis, is now circulating, with hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza at risk.

He elaborated on some of UN agencies’ ongoing efforts in the face of the healthcare challenge — the World Health Organization (WHO) has approved the release of 1.6 million doses of the polio vaccine, the United Nations Children’s Fund is coordinating delivery efforts and the cold chain equipment needed for storage, and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, the largest primary healthcare provider in Gaza, has medical teams ready to administer the vaccines and assist with logistics.

However, the UN chief warned that challenges are grave, with health, water, and sanitation systems in Gaza decimated and most hospitals and primary care facilities not functional.

Noting that at least 95 percent vaccination coverage will be needed during each round of the two-phase campaign to prevent polio’s spread and reduce its emergence given the wholesale devastation in Gaza, he said that vaccinations will be conducted by 708 teams at hospitals and primary health care centers, although most of which are barely functioning, throughout Gaza.

Guterres once again called on all parties to ensure a humanitarian ceasefire for the campaign.

Noting that polio goes beyond politics and transcends all divisions, he stressed that it is a shared obligation to come together to fight polio instead of fighting people.

(Reuters)