‘Tragic childhood’: Gaza children vaccinated against polio, war continues

Some families question the push for vaccines amid eroded trust in the international community’s help.

Deir el-Balah, Gaza – Maha Abu Shamas, 27, has been getting her four children, all under the age of 10, ready to get their polio vaccines since the early hours of the morning.

Maha, a mother of five, has been living in a classroom in Deir el-Balah’s central Gaza Strip since the family was displaced from Beit Hanoon in the north last November.

“When I heard about the threat of polio spreading, I was terrified for my children. When I learned of a confirmed case of paralysis, I felt like my world had collapsed,” said Maha, holding her nine-month-old boy inside the busy paediatric ward of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the last functioning medical facility in Deir el-Balah.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health last month confirmed the first case of polio – a 10-month-old boy, now paralysed in the leg – in the enclave after 25 years, following the detection of poliovirus in wastewater. The United Nations, along with Gaza health authorities, has begun a vaccination campaign to protect children against polio, which can cause irreversible paralysis of the limbs or even death. About 640,000 children under 10 years old will receive oral drops of the vaccine to protect against the virus which primarily affects children under the age of five, is highly contagious and has no cure.

The threat of polio has only compounded Maha’s worries. Displaced parents like her already contend with harsh, unsanitary conditions at shelters like the school where Maha and her children live, and in Gaza’s tent camps, as they try to survive Israel’s war on Gaza which has killed more than 40,700 Palestinians.