The baby in Gaza who was recently paralyzed by polio was infected with a mutated strain of the virus that vaccinated people shed in their waste, according to scientists who say the case is the result of “an unqualified failure” of public health policy. The polio strain in question evolved from a weakened virus that was originally part of an oral vaccine credited with preventing millions of children worldwide from being paralyzed. But that virus was removed from the vaccine in 2016 in hopes of preventing vaccine-derived outbreaks. Public health authorities knew that decision would leave people unprotected against that particular strain, but they thought they had a plan to ward off and quickly contain any outbreaks. Instead, the move resulted in a surge of thousands of cases – APnews full article.

WHO and UN Agencies Announce Three-Day Pause in Gaza War for Polio Vaccination Campaign. The “humanitarian pauses” will begin on Sunday in central Gaza and run for eight to nine hours each day over the course of three days. This will be followed by similar pauses in southern and northern Gaza – Al Manar report.