Polio Vaccination Targets in Gaza Exceeded, World Health Organization Says

Latest Developments

Exceeding its goal, the World Health Organization (WHO) administered more than 161,000 polio vaccines in Gaza during the first two days of its immunization campaign, the UN agency announced on September 3. Following the confirmation of a polio case in Gaza in August — the first in the strip in 25 years — WHO launched a widespread campaign to inoculate over 640,000 Gazan children in partnership with UNICEF and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The vaccine rollout began in central Gaza on September 1. Next, the WHO plans to inoculate approximately 340,000 children in southern Gaza before moving north, where 150,000 children are expected to receive the polio vaccine.

Expert Analysis

“While Israel gets no credit from its detractors, the ability to simultaneously target Hamas terror infrastructure while facilitating a mass vaccination campaign says everything about the Jewish state’s values and provides the starkest of contrasts to Hamas brutally executing hostages and holding many more.” — Richard Goldberg, FDD Senior Advisor

“COGAT, the Israeli Ministry of Defense agency coordinating humanitarian aid, has facilitated the entry of more than 49,000 truckloads of food, medicine, and other supplies into Gaza since the war began. According to COGAT’s online dashboard, more than 975,000 tons of aid and commercial goods have crossed into the coastal strip. That achievement requires close coordination with the UN, day in and day out, even if relations were never warm. The success of the vaccination campaign reflects this much broader Israeli effort to mitigate suffering in Gaza while it prosecutes the war against Hamas.” — David Adesnik, FDD Senior Fellow and Director of Research

IDF Measures to Enable Vaccine Rollout

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced on August 28 that the IDF would be “designating specific areas in the Gaza Strip” during the vaccination campaign. On August 31, COGAT stated on X that “the polio vaccination campaign for children in Gaza will be starting tomorrow, Sunday,” listing the designated times and locations for the nine-day campaign. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reportedly made a “major push” for temporary humanitarian pauses to facilitate the vaccine rollout when he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel last month.

Israeli Efforts to Prevent the Spread of Polio

The WHO first detected the polio virus in wastewater samples collected from Gaza in June, sparking fears of an imminent outbreak. At the time, the agency said that the virus, which can cause permanent paralysis of various body parts, was “isolated” and that “no associated paralytic cases have been detected.” On July 2, Israel connected a power line to a main desalination plant in Gaza to boost the supply of clean drinking water to the strip. The Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said that “the increase in [the] supply of water is a further step taken to support humanitarian efforts for Gazan residents, and to prevent contamination and outbreaks of disease during the summer months.”

On August 25, more than 1.25 million doses of the polio vaccination arrived in Gaza. COGAT provided an update on the polio vaccination campaign on August 28, noting that cooling equipment had also been transferred, along with flyers to encourage the public to participate. “In the coming days, international and local medical teams will vaccinate children who have not yet been vaccinated against polio at various locations in Gaza,” COGAT noted in a statement.

Related Analysis

“Israel Partners With UNICEF on Polio Vaccinations, Clean Water,” FDD Flash Brief

“Israel, Hamas Agree to Reduce Clashes to Enable Polio Vaccine Rollout,” FDD Flash Brief

“Aiming to Boost Supply of Clean Water, Israel Connects Power Line to Gaza Desalination Plant,” FDD Flash Brief