Children’s health · Gaza Strip
Reaching children with polio vaccines
Mobile vaccination teams and local outreach helped reach children missed during earlier rounds in Gaza.
· Retrospective
Teams and community outreach
UNICEF supported the Palestinian Ministry of Health’s February 2025 polio campaign in coordination with WHO, UNRWA and other health partners. Over five days, the campaign reached 602,795 children under ten across Gaza’s five governorates. It followed two rounds in 2024 and was part of the response to an ongoing outbreak.
Access shaped how that work happened. WHO described 1,660 vaccination teams, including 1,242 mobile teams, supported by 1,242 community mobilizers. The ceasefire allowed teams to reach places and families missed during earlier rounds, including children displaced from their homes. Vaccination depended on families knowing where to go and health workers being able to meet them.
Keeping vaccines cold
UNICEF’s contribution included the cold chain: the system that keeps vaccines at appropriate temperatures during storage and movement. Its February report described deploying ten generators to support uninterrupted power at distribution points. Vaccine carriers and cold boxes also strengthened routine immunization and supplementary campaigns.
Why the work had to continue
WHO’s explanation before the campaign made the reason for another round clear. Wastewater samples collected in December 2024 and January 2025 still contained poliovirus. Children who had missed vaccination remained vulnerable, while crowded shelters and damaged water and sanitation systems created conditions in which the virus could spread.
The February result showed what improved access made possible. Sustaining that protection also required disease surveillance, routine childhood immunization and dependable water and sanitation. Continued sampling could identify circulation that case reports alone might miss, helping teams decide where further action was needed. The broader task was to rebuild services that could keep reaching children after a short campaign ended.