The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said today, Friday, that the organization will send more than one million doses of polio vaccine to the Gaza Strip.

Vaccine doses will be distributed over the coming weeks to prevent children from becoming infected after the virus was detected in samples of wastewater in the Strip.

“Although no cases of polio have been reported so far, without immediate action, it will only be a matter of time before thousands more children become infected and become unprotected,” Ghebreyesus said.

He pointed out that children under the age of five are most at risk of contracting this virus, especially infants under the age of two, due to the disruption of regular vaccination campaigns as a result of the war that has been ongoing for 9 months.

It is worth noting that polio, which is mainly spread through the transmission of fecal matter from an infected person via charcoal, is a highly contagious virus that affects the nervous system and causes paralysis.

The incidence of the virus has decreased by 99% worldwide since 1988 thanks to mass vaccination campaigns, and efforts are ongoing to completely eradicate it.

The Israeli military said on Sunday it would begin vaccinating its soldiers in Gaza with the polio vaccine, after traces of the virus were detected in samples taken from the enclave.

In addition, the United Nations announced last week a significant increase in cases of hepatitis A, dysentery and gastroenteritis as health conditions in Gaza deteriorate due to sewage leaking into the streets near some of the displaced people's tents.