Even before the Gaza case was detected, officials concluded that "the worst-case scenario has materialised". Now they've diagnosed "an unqualified failure".
The infection, which marked the first detection of polio in the war-torn Palestinian territory in more than 25 years, paralysed the lower part of one leg in the unvaccinated 10-month-old child.Displaced infant Abdel-Rahman Abu El-Jedian, who suffers from polio, sleeps at a makeshift tent camp in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, August 27, 2024.
"It was a really horrible strategy," said Columbia University virologist Vincent Racaniello, who was not involved with the report or the WHO. Even before the Gaza case was detected, officials reviewing the initiative to tinker with the vaccine concluded that "the worst-case scenario has materialised", the report said.
Scientists now worry that the emergence of polio in a war zone with an under-immunised population could fuel further spread. The oral polio vaccine, which contains a weakened live virus, was withdrawn in the US in 2000. Doctors continued to vaccinate children and eventually moved to an injected vaccine, which uses a dead virus and does not come with the risk that polio will be present in human waste. Such waste-borne virus could mutate into a form that triggers outbreaks in unvaccinated people.
Rosenbauer said not hitting vaccination targets was the biggest risk for allowing vaccine-linked viruses to emerge.The WHO estimates that 95 per cent of the population needs to be immunised against polio to stop outbreaks. The UN health agency said only about 90 per cent of Gaza's population was vaccinated earlier this year.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Baby in Gaza partly paralysed from polio in territory’s first case for 25 yearsWHO says infant in stable condition as it prepares to vaccinate more than 640,000 children amid war
Read more »
Gaza polio vaccine rollout hindered by Israeli evacuation orders, says UNAid workers preparing to distribute medicine to children in effort to contain outbreak call for pause in fighting
Read more »
First case of polio confirmed in a 10-month-old child in Gaza, Palestinian health officials sayThe first case of polio has been reported in an unvaccinated child in Gaza.
Read more »
Gaza sees first polio case in 25 years as UN calls for mass vaccinationsHighly infectious disease confirmed in 10-month-old as UN chief urges pauses in fighting to contain spread
Read more »
Baby paralysed in Gaza's first case of type 2 polio in 25 years, World Health Organization saysUnited Nations agencies are appealing for urgent vaccinations of every baby, with children under five particularly at risk.
Read more »
Perth doctor Mohammed Mustafa provides chilling account from hospitals of GazaEmergency physician Mohammed Mustafa has recently returned home from volunteering in two of Gaza's hospitals, and he says the situation there is a 'humanitarian catastrophe'.
Read more »