Vaccines for Palestinian children enter Gaza for first time since October 7
The shipment includes vaccines for polio, measles, rubella, and mumps, and is sufficient for a period ranging from 8 to 14 months.
Israel's attacks have effectively stopped normal health services in Gaza, including vaccinations against highly contagious childhood diseases that had been brought under control by mass immunisation programmes. / Photo: AA
Vaccines for children have started entering Gaza via the Rafah border crossing for the first time since the outbreak of Israel's war on the enclave on October 7, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
These vaccines were purchased by the Palestinian government, in addition to donations from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Health Minister Mai al Kaila said in a statement on Monday.
“The Egyptian Health Ministry had previously approved the use of the cooling units on the Egyptian side to store the vaccines until their delivery into Gaza,” she added.
“The delivery process was carried out in accordance with the international standards for vaccine storage under the UNICEF supervision.”
She noted that "this comes amid the critical epidemiological situation caused by the Israeli war on the enclave."
The shipment includes vaccines for polio, measles, rubella, and mumps, and is sufficient for a period ranging from 8 to 14 months.
Yasser Bouzia, head of international relations in the Health Ministry in Ramallah, said there were estimated to be some 60,000 newborn babies in Gaza, who would normally receive vaccination but who have been largely cut off from medical services.
He said administering the new vaccines would be difficult because most of Gaza's population had been driven from their homes, with hundreds of thousands living in tents or other temporary accommodation.
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