IDF working to bring more vaccines into Strip for Gazans

IDF to give booster vaccinations to soldiers after polio virus found in Gaza sewage

Health Ministry says it will monitor situation in Israel; no cases of polio have been detected so far in the Gaza Strip, according to the World Health Organization

Reporter at The Times of Israel

Palestinians walk past mounds of garbage and open sewage in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City, on July 3, 2024 (Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Palestinians walk past mounds of garbage and open sewage in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City, on July 3, 2024 (Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

The IDF announced Sunday that it had begun a campaign to offer polio vaccination boosters to all soldiers serving in the Gaza Strip.

The move comes after traces of poliovirus type 2 were found in sewage samples in the Gaza Strip last week. No cases of polio have been detected so far in the Gaza Strip, according to the World Health Organization.

The wide-scale vaccination campaign is for all forces in regular service as well as reserves and is not compulsory.

“The IDF will work in coordination with the Health Ministry to ensure the health of IDF soldiers and the public, and will continue to carry out inspections in the Gaza Strip,” a spokesperson said.

IDF soldiers were also instructed to take preventive actions and maintain personal hygiene.

Alongside the vaccination campaign for soldiers, the IDF is working with international organizations to bring more vaccines into the Strip for Gazans.

Polio is primarily spread through fecal-oral contamination, sometimes by drinking contaminated water, poor sanitation, or poor control of sewage.

It is a highly infectious disease, mostly affecting young children, that attacks the nervous system. It can lead to paralysis and in some cases death.

According to a statement by WHO, the war between Israel and Hamas has disrupted routine immunization programs in Gaza, and children are at increased risk for diseases such as polio.

The heat, accumulating garbage, sewage and lack of clean water are accelerating the spread of diseases, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

In Israel, approximately 95% of all children receive polio vaccines, and the country has largely wiped out the disease, according to the Health Ministry.

The polio vaccine is thought to give lifetime immunity, but in the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that adults who are at increased risk of exposure receive a one-time booster dose of IPV (inactivated polio vaccine) to maintain immunity. The IDF does not have figures on how many soldiers are not vaccinated at all.

The polio vaccination regimen involves four IPV shots given before the age of 18 months and another when the child is in second grade. Babies and toddlers are also given two oral polio vaccine (OPV) doses taken by drops into the mouth to provide full protection and prevent the shedding of the virus through the stool into the sewage system. It also prevents young children from infecting others.

A Health Ministry spokesperson said the ministry conducts regular tests for polio in the sewage system in Israel.

The ministry “continues to monitor the situation to prevent the risk of the spread of the illness in Israel,” the spokesperson said.

Most Popular
read more: