The World Health Organization (WHO) says polio vaccinations of children in central Gaza have “surpassed the target” in the first two days of its immunisation campaign.
Dr Rik Peeperkorn, the UN agency’s representative in the Palestinian territories, said 161,030 children under the age of 10 were vaccinated on Sunday and Monday – above the projection of 156,500.
The difference was probably the result of an underestimate of the population crowded into the area, he explained.
Israel and Hamas agreed to a series of localised pauses in the fighting to allow health workers to administer vaccines after Gaza’s first confirmed case of polio in 25 years left a 10-month-old partially paralysed last month.
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The pauses are taking effect between 06:00 and 15:00 local time in three separate stages across central, southern and northern parts of…