JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s military said on Sunday it will start offering the polio vaccine to soldiers serving in the Gaza Strip after remnants of the contagious polio virus were found in test samples in areas of the coastal enclave.
The military also said that with the cooperation of international groups enough vaccines had been brought in to cover more than a million of Gaza’s 2.3 million population.
Soldiers will be vaccinated during routine troop turnover, though it is not mandatory, the military said.
Much of Gaza’s health infrastructure has been destroyed during Israel’s nine-month old military offensive, which was sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel.
Public health officials and aid groups have warned that without proper health services the population is particularly vulnerable to disease outbreaks.
(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
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