From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, August 20, 2024
Health officials urge polio vaccination of Gazans, as IDF says process has begun
Reporter at The Times of Israel
The heads of Israeli medical societies urge the health and defense ministers to allow a humanitarian ceasefire to vaccinate the population in Gaza against polio.
In a joint letter sent yesterday to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Health Minister Uriel Buso, the doctors voice their concern after Gaza recorded its first polio case in 25 years last week when tests in Jordan confirmed the disease in an unvaccinated 10-month-old baby from the central Gaza Strip.
“All infants in Israel and Gaza who have not yet received the full vaccinations are at high risk,” the doctors write. “Our soldiers in Gaza and those treating prisoners from Gaza are also at risk. Some of those infected may suffer paralysis for the rest of their lives or spread the virus to immunocompromised populations.”
IDF International Spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani says on X that “in the coming weeks, 43,250 vials of vaccine are expected to arrive in Israel and will enter the Gaza Strip, enough to vaccinate over 1 million children in 2 rounds.”
He adds that according to the World Health Organization, about 90% of the population in Gaza was vaccinated against polio in the first quarter of 2024.
“Although the percentage of vaccinated residents of the Gaza Strip is high, babies likely born in Gaza after October 2023 and children who did not complete their polio vaccinations after the outbreak of war need additional doses,” says Dr. Eyal Leshem, director of the Center for Travel Medicine and Tropical Diseases at Sheba Medical Center.
He says the vaccine to be given, nOPV2, is designed to provide immunity against type 2 poliovirus while reducing the risk of vaccine-derived poliovirus outbreaks.
“The vaccine is supplied in vials with 50 doses,” Leshem says. “Therefore, it is likely that 2 doses can be given to each unvaccinated child, as well as booster doses to those already vaccinated.”
