ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
The second round of a polio vaccination campaign is underway in Gaza. Public health officials are hoping to reach the more than half a million children who received their first dose a few weeks back. To do so, Israel and Hamas agreed to pause their fighting during a short window each day. Reporter Ari Daniel brings us this status report.
ARI DANIEL, BYLINE: It's a busy day at the Nuseirat Health Center in central Gaza.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #1: (Crying).
DANIEL: Children gather here with their families, awaiting their second dose of the oral polio vaccine. A 5-year-old boy is asked what he knows about the vaccine.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #2: (Non-English language spoken).
DANIEL: "It's a drop," he answers, and he's right - no needle required. The UN relief agency that provides aid to Palestinians, or UNRWA, has deployed some 1,200 teams to both reach out to families in Gaza, including those living in tents and shelters, and to set up vaccination clinics. Team members made these recordings from the health center this week. Here's Taher (ph). He's one of the vaccinators. The UN group has asked us to only use first names to protect the identities of their staff and patients.
TAHER: (Non-English language spoken).
DANIEL: "We're targeting kids from the age of 1 day to the age of 10 years," he says. That adds up to roughly 590,000 children, many of whom come from families displaced from their homes since the start of the war.
REHA: (Non-English language spoken).
DANIEL: Reha (ph) belongs to one of those families.
REHA: (Through interpreter) When I heard that there was a polio vaccination, I immediately came to vaccinate my children because it is dangerous for kids to be infected in light of the difficult health conditions we have here.
DANIEL: Polio is a disease that public health officials have been battling for decades, one that shows up under difficult conditions, says the World Health Organization's Dr. Rik Peeperkorn.
RIK PEEPERKORN: Often in places of war, civil strife, where there's groups of vulnerable children which are either not immunized or underimmunized.
DANIEL: Which describes Gaza. Peeperkorn is currently based in the enclave.
PEEPERKORN: It's a very devastated infrastructure - health facilities, roads.
DANIEL: In July, polio was detected in the wastewater. Then a baby boy became paralyzed, Gaza's first polio case in a quarter-century. And it meant at least 200 more people were likely infected. That kicked off the urgent vaccination campaign that began last month, a campaign fraught with logistical challenges in a war zone.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
DANIEL: It's among the reasons the teams at certain clinics are trying to bring a little cheer to the families. Doctor Haneen is with UNRWA.
HANEEN: There is face drawing of the children. There is puppet, entertainment, making our children laughing, making the caregiver and the mother at ease and happy.
DANIEL: One little girl who went to a clinic in Deral Bala said these activities were the best part of the day.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #3: (Non-English language spoken).
DANIEL: "I enjoyed getting vaccinated," she says, "because they played with us and drew for us." In under a week, more than 180,000 children in central Gaza received their second polio dose and, for many, a Vitamin A supplement as well to boost their immunity. Rik Peeperkorn again.
PEEPERKORN: During this polio campaign, the parents can bring their children. The teams can move around. It's almost a little sense of normality.
DANIEL: Almost. But he says outside of this, quote, "polio bubble"...
PEEPERKORN: Of course, there is no normality - over 40,000 deaths, almost 98,000 people injured. And one quarter will need lifelong rehabilitation.
DANIEL: Not to mention surges in diarrhea, hepatitis A and skin diseases and no reliable system for moving humanitarian assistance into Gaza, something he says should have been figured out by now. Meanwhile, vaccinators will move into Southern Gaza tomorrow and then to the north with the goal of completing the work by the end of next week. For NPR News, I'm Ari Daniel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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