The World Health Organization in Gaza said on Tuesday that it’s ahead of its targets for polio vaccinations in Gaza on day three of the mass campaign.

The campaign, which was hastened after the discovery of the first polio case in a Palestinian baby last month, relies on daily eight-hour pauses in fighting in specific areas of the strip.

Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian territories, told reporters that it had vaccinated more than 161,000 children under 10 in the central area in the first two days of its campaign versus a projected 150,000.

At least 90% of Gaza’s 640,000 children under 10 must be vaccinated with two drops of oral vaccine in two rounds, four weeks apart, to prevent the disease from spreading – a formidable goal in an active war zone where conditions can change rapidly.

Al Jazeera