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The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a polio vaccination campaign for its soldiers in Gaza after the virus was detected in the enclave’s sewage system, Israeli media reported.
The vaccination campaign, on a voluntary basis, will concern all forces in regular service in the Gaza Strip and reserves, the Times of Israel reported.
On Friday, World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said that poliovirus type 2 had been located at six sewage systems locations on the Gaza Strip, adding that no one had so far been treated for polio-related symptoms. Lindmeier nonetheless called the finding “extremely worrying.”
Haaretz reported that the IDF is concerned about the prospect of a polio outbreak given the sanitary situation in Gaza. Polio is a fecal-oral disease and infections can be linked to contaminated and poor sewage systems.
“The decimation of the health system, lack of security, access obstruction, constant population displacement, shortages of medical supplies, poor quality of water and weakened sanitation are increasing the risk of vaccine-preventable diseases, including polio,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.
After nine months of war, fewer than half of Gaza’s hospitals are functioning, according to the WHO.
