A polio vaccination campaign has officially started in the Gaza Strip where the United Nations has announced “humanitarian pauses” to allow for large-scale inoculation, a health official told AFP.

It officially began in three health centres in central Gaza, a day after an unspecified number of children were vaccinated in the southern area of the Gaza Strip. Children aged from one day old to 10 years arrived at the centres to receive the dose as drones flew overhead, said Yasser Shaabane, medical director of Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza.

“There are a lot of drones flying over central Gaza and we hope this vaccination campaign for children will be calm,” said Shaabane. The campaign began at 9:00am, he said.

The campaign also aims to administer the first dose — two drops — to at least 90 per cent of the territory’s children.

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