Berliner Boersenzeitung - Gaza polio vaccinations to resume Saturday: WHO

EUR -
AED 3.985993
AFN 72.636618
ALL 98.203749
AMD 420.158713
ANG 1.956149
AOA 986.506565
ARS 1074.14581
AUD 1.650933
AWG 1.953369
AZN 1.849743
BAM 1.953226
BBD 2.191582
BDT 129.703253
BGN 1.952236
BHD 0.409064
BIF 3153.616647
BMD 1.085205
BND 1.436986
BOB 7.527323
BRL 6.318822
BSD 1.085405
BTN 91.287799
BWP 14.510345
BYN 3.55197
BYR 21270.015247
BZD 2.187867
CAD 1.510361
CDF 3133.53263
CHF 0.943776
CLF 0.037812
CLP 1043.359209
CNY 7.729265
CNH 7.725894
COP 4787.229309
CRC 556.584454
CUC 1.085205
CUP 28.757929
CVE 110.119878
CZK 25.314635
DJF 193.281517
DKK 7.456454
DOP 65.315429
DZD 144.584001
EGP 53.119257
ERN 16.278073
ETB 130.353316
FJD 2.442586
FKP 0.830365
GBP 0.837556
GEL 2.97886
GGP 0.830365
GHS 17.692255
GIP 0.830365
GMD 77.049511
GNF 9360.664021
GTQ 8.386064
GYD 226.978197
HKD 8.439725
HNL 27.359944
HRK 7.476009
HTG 142.835055
HUF 407.937217
IDR 17145.260096
ILS 4.070701
IMP 0.830365
INR 91.221995
IQD 1421.858954
IRR 45679.021895
ISK 148.91236
JEP 0.830365
JMD 172.043272
JOD 0.769515
JPY 166.003638
KES 140.023964
KGS 93.108619
KHR 4411.166407
KMF 492.249512
KPW 976.684129
KRW 1495.699857
KWD 0.332745
KYD 0.904504
KZT 530.812695
LAK 23822.154697
LBP 97197.942228
LKR 317.956585
LRD 208.394407
LSL 19.103365
LTL 3.204328
LVL 0.65643
LYD 5.230107
MAD 10.666743
MDL 19.428307
MGA 5003.521361
MKD 61.349008
MMK 3524.703052
MNT 3687.526143
MOP 8.694722
MRU 43.091212
MUR 49.767718
MVR 16.658071
MWK 1882.080396
MXN 21.731247
MYR 4.751572
MZN 69.326969
NAD 19.103365
NGN 1783.436689
NIO 39.938655
NOK 11.976214
NPR 146.055502
NZD 1.815683
OMR 0.41779
PAB 1.085494
PEN 4.096833
PGK 4.350267
PHP 63.44652
PKR 301.403029
PLN 4.35778
PYG 8574.699806
QAR 3.956686
RON 4.974254
RSD 117.033959
RUB 106.074836
RWF 1484.037419
SAR 4.076896
SBD 9.024924
SCR 14.782099
SDG 652.75387
SEK 11.629538
SGD 1.437055
SHP 0.830365
SLE 24.579633
SLL 22756.199831
SOS 620.302538
SRD 37.564392
STD 22461.549573
SVC 9.496485
SYP 2726.610057
SZL 19.098095
THB 36.8579
TJS 11.537761
TMT 3.809069
TND 3.360871
TOP 2.541654
TRY 37.265288
TTD 7.357541
TWD 34.607111
TZS 2930.052697
UAH 44.858683
UGX 3973.763164
USD 1.085205
UYU 44.950762
UZS 13887.698056
VEF 3931211.614334
VES 46.286634
VND 27455.682947
VUV 128.837734
WST 3.039859
XAF 655.090669
XAG 0.032171
XAU 0.000399
XCD 2.932821
XDR 0.815814
XOF 655.093683
XPF 119.331742
YER 271.653947
ZAR 19.069258
ZMK 9768.146762
ZMW 29.115569
ZWL 349.435522
  • RBGPF

    -1.4000

    59.6

    -2.35%

  • RYCEF

    0.2800

    7.14

    +3.92%

  • CMSC

    0.0800

    24.63

    +0.32%

  • SCS

    0.1350

    12.165

    +1.11%

  • AZN

    0.3200

    71.47

    +0.45%

  • RELX

    1.0400

    47.26

    +2.2%

  • GSK

    0.4100

    37.17

    +1.1%

  • NGG

    0.9900

    64.58

    +1.53%

  • RIO

    0.5000

    65.39

    +0.76%

  • VOD

    0.1000

    9.37

    +1.07%

  • BTI

    0.1550

    35.135

    +0.44%

  • BCE

    -0.1400

    32.12

    -0.44%

  • CMSD

    0.1300

    24.79

    +0.52%

  • BCC

    2.6550

    135.685

    +1.96%

  • BP

    0.1050

    29.465

    +0.36%

  • JRI

    0.0400

    13.12

    +0.3%

Gaza polio vaccinations to resume Saturday: WHO
Gaza polio vaccinations to resume Saturday: WHO / Photo: Eyad BABA - AFP

Gaza polio vaccinations to resume Saturday: WHO

The World Health Organization said Friday that the necessary second round of child polio vaccinations in northern Gaza would begin on Saturday, after Israeli bombing had halted the drive.

Text size:

The announcement that the final phase of polio vaccination in the Gaza Strip can go ahead came a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urgently called on Israel to facilitate a quick completion of the campaign.

The vaccination drive began on September 1 after the besieged Palestinian territory confirmed its first case of polio in 25 years.

A first round of inoculation was completed across the Gaza Strip and the second round -- essential to build up immunity -- began as scheduled on October 14, first in central Gaza, then the south, aided by so-called humanitarian pauses in the fighting.

But the WHO postponed the final phase in the north, which was set to begin on October 23, due to "intense bombardment" making the conditions on the ground "impossible".

Israel launched a major air and ground assault in northern Gaza last month, saying it wanted to stop Hamas militants regrouping there.

"Polio vaccination in northern Gaza is ready to resume tomorrow," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday on X.

"We are assured of the necessary humanitarian pause in Gaza City to conduct the campaign.

"Unfortunately, the area covered is substantially reduced compared to the first round of vaccination, which will leave some children unprotected and at higher risk of infection."

In its original reasoning for postponing vaccinations in the north, the UN health agency said the approved area for humanitarian pauses in the north had been cut down to Gaza City alone, meaning many children would have missed their second dose.

This would "seriously jeopardise efforts to stop the transmission of poliovirus in Gaza", it had said.

Last Friday, Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO's representative in the Palestinian territories, said 452,000 children had been vaccinated in central and southern Gaza, and 119,000 children in the north were awaiting their second dose.

The WHO says a minimum of two separate doses of oral vaccine are needed to interrupt poliovirus transmission, requiring 90 percent of all children aged under 10 to be vaccinated in a given community.

Typically spread through sewage and contaminated water, poliovirus is highly infectious.

It can cause deformities and paralysis, and is potentially fatal, mainly affecting children under the age of five.

The WHO and UNICEF, the UN children's agency, urged that the humanitarian pauses be respected, said Tedros.

"However, what the children in northern Gaza and across the whole Strip really need is peace, he added.

(B.Hartmann--BBZ)