Amid fear and hope, thousands of Gaza parents line up to protect their children from polio
Wael al-Haj Mohammed’s daughter is a child of war. Born the day after the conflict in Gaza between Hamas and Israel broke out last October, Mohammed has struggled to get medical care.
She is one of thousands of children to benefit from a mass polio vaccination campaign, which began on September 1 in central Gaza.
Mr Mohammed’s daughter is being vaccinated against type II polio at a UNRWA clinic in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza as part of the first phase of the operation.
Nourhan Shamalakh, a young mother of two young boys and an infant daughter, left the simple shacks they call home in the central Gazan city of Deir al-Balah for a health center where her children could be vaccinated against polio. They traveled by donkey cart to get there. She said her fear of the disease outweighed her fear of traveling to the center.
Standing in line at the Deir al-Balah health centre run by UNRWA, Mohammed Rajab waited for his baby daughter to receive her vaccine, which is administered orally. “Given the conditions we live in and the diseases that are prevalent, vaccination is now of great importance for the survival of our children,” he said. “God willing, in these days of war, peace will prevail for all.”
Parents who visit the health center are well aware of the importance of vaccination.
“The problem of polio in Gaza is very serious,” said Muhammad Abu Jayab. “For decades, the disease did not exist in Gaza. And now, because of the war, it has returned. This is a threat to hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza, including my own. This vaccination is a big step forward despite the dire humanitarian and security situation in Gaza.”
The vaccination campaign is going according to plan.
Inside the health center, agency spokeswoman Louise Wateridge watched the vaccination process as hundreds of families waited their turn.
“Our staff here are ready to vaccinate as many children as possible over the next three days in the first phase of this vaccination campaign,” Wateridge said. “The doses are kept in individual coolers to keep them out of the heat of the day. So far, it seems like the situation is calm in the Gaza Strip. The humanitarian truce is holding so far, and that’s what we need to do this campaign, and we’ll see how things go in the coming days. So far, everything is going according to plan. The children are coming, the families are here, the vaccinations are going well.”
