Gaza Polio Vaccination: The World Health Organisation has announced most-awaited polio vaccination campaign in Gaza will begin on coming Sunday. The health regulatory body has said Israel has agreed to offer temporary pauses in fighting to allow health workers to administer the jabs in Gaza - where a case of the debilitating disease has been recorded for the first time in 25 years.

The pauses, from 6 am to 3 pm, will last for at least three days in three separate zones, beginning in central Gaza and then moving to the south and the north, according to Rik Peeperkorn, who heads WHO operations in the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank. A second dose for those receiving the vaccine will be administered four weeks later, he said, speaking from Gaza at a virtual briefing for reporters at the United Nations in New York.

“Due to insecurity, damage to roads and infrastructure, and dislocation,” Peeperkorn said, “the three days might not be enough” to reach a hoped-for coverage rate of 90 percent. “It has been agreed that where needed” the pauses will be “expanded by one day per zone.” Approvals, he said, have been given by COGAT, the Israeli agency responsible for administering civilian policies within the occupied territories.

On August 23, the WHO confirmed that at least one ten-month-old unvaccinated baby has been paralyzed by the type 2 poliovirus - the first such case in the territory in 25 years.

Scientists who have been monitoring polio outbreaks said the baby’s illness showed the failures of a global effort by the WHO and its partners to fix serious problems in their otherwise largely successful eradication campaign- which has nearly wiped out the highly infectious disease.

The polio strain in question evolved from a weakened virus that was originally part of an oral vaccine credited with preventing millions of children worldwide from being paralyzed. But that virus was removed from the vaccine in 2016 in hopes of preventing vaccine-derived outbreaks.

According to Cleveland Clinic, polio – also known as poliomyelitis, is a disease caused by poliovirus – that causes mild or no symptoms in most people, but in some people, it can cause paralysis or even death. There are three variations of the virus – known as wild poliovirus types 1, 2, and 3 (WPV1, WPV2, and WPV3).

Polio type 1 is most likely to cause paralysis.

Doctors say poliovirus gets into your body through your mouth or nose and reproduces in your throat and gut. In some cases, it gets into your brain and spinal cord and causes paralysis. Paralysis can affect your arms, legs, or the muscles that control your breathing.

According to officials, the resurgence of polio is being attributed to the destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure in war-torn areas. Many voluntary organizations say the combination of overcrowding, displacement, and a decimated healthcare system has created a perfect storm for the virus to spread rapidly through the population.

Apart from Gaza, which has been under Israeli offensive since last year, there have also been cases reported from Afghanistan and Pakistan. Earlier this month, a case of poliovirus was also reported from Meghalaya.

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