Ministry widening jab campaign
THE Ministry of Health will vaccinate civil servants in charge of collecting tax revenue from the General Department of Customs and Excise of Cambodia (GDCE) and the General Department of Taxation (GDT) at hospitals in the capital and provinces in the next phase of Covid-19 vaccinations.
In reference to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s approval letter to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the health ministry noted in a March 3 press release that the campaign would proceed on a voluntary basis and cover contracted officials from the two units.
The press release also said that civil servants and staff of Angkor Enterprise are front-line workers who provide services to tourists and collect proceeds from selling tickets to visitors to the Angkor resort, Beng Mealea, and Koh Keo temples.
They will be vaccinated at hospitals in the capital and provinces during working hours from 8am to 5pm.
The health ministry stated that it would notify the public aged from 18 to 59 so that they can be vaccinated on a voluntary basis in the next phase.
Hun Manet, who is the first son of the prime minister and the first person to receive the Kingdom’s first Sinopharm Covid-19 jab on February 10, has received
the second dose of the vaccine at Calmette Hospital on March 3, along with other senior officials.
Hun Many, the youngest son of the prime minister didn’t receive the first dose of the vaccine because of his health. So, he received the first dose on March 3.
Many took to Facebook. One post said: “Having consulted again with doctors about my health, I was permitted to get the Sinopharm vaccine after I wasn’t permitted to get the shot because I had the flu.”
Hun Many has also called on Cambodians to continue
to join in stopping the spread of the virus by observing the guidelines of three protections and three don’ts. The “three protections” are wearing masks, washing hands and maintaining a physical distance of 1.5m from others. The “three don’ts” refer to avoiding crowded places, enclosed areas without ventilation, and making physical contact.
The Ministry of National Defence reported that from February 10 to March 2, 75,198 members of the armed forces have received the Sinopharm vaccine, while the health ministry had vaccinated 33,211 other
people during the same period.
Meanwhile, the first phase of 324,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the COVAX Facility arrived in Cambodia on the night of March 2, which was a grant from the World Health Organisation, according to the prime minister.
“This is about trust, based on good cooperation between the Cambodian government and the international community in the fight against the pandemic. Cambodia is one of the first countries in the region to receive the vaccine through the COVAX facility.” The prime minister wrote on his official Facebook page.
At the same time the US Embassy in Cambodia also issued a press release to congratulate Cambodia on the successful arrival the AstraZeneca vaccine. This shipment was made possible through the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, a global initiative to support equitable access to vaccines.
The press release stated that The US recently announced the provision of an initial $2 billion – out of a planned $4 billion – to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, making the US the single largest contributor to the international response to the virus.
“Supporting Cambodia’s response to Covid-19 through the COVAX facility continues our long-standing public health cooperation and partnership with Cambodia,” said US ambassador Patrick Murphy.
He added that defeating the pandemic is a global challenge and the US is working both at home and abroad to stop the spread of the disease. Working together, we can defeat Covid-19 and prepare ourselves for future threats.
According to the health ministry, the initial 324,000 doses was the first phase of 1.1 million doses that the COVAX mechanism will provide to Cambodia by the end of May.
Cambodia is expected to receive about seven million doses of the vaccine through the COVAX mechanism.
LOCAL authorities and specialists in Koh Kong province have given a 30-day ultimatum to three people who used soil to fill in an area of sea in Kiri Sakor district. The offenders have been warned to remove the soil or face the law.
The ultimatum was given after soil was used to fill part of the sea, affecting the beauty of sea, mangrove forests and the environment.
Deputy provincial governor Sok Sothy held a meeting on February 26 concerning the incident and mangrove forest logging and the building of bridges and cottages in Kiri Sakor district. The meeting was attended by local authorities and specialists.
He said that the incident took place in Prek Khsach village, Prek Khsach commune in the district. Three people including Huot Khean and Huot Nget and Chhim Chandy were involved in the incident.
“Concerning the case, specialists went to measure soil used to fill in the sea, so that they will remove the soil. It will take at least a month to remove all the soil,” he said.
Sok Sothy added that the three men had also attended the meeting and admitted their wrong doing. They were willing to remove the soil from the sea. Having been informed, authorities took action immediately. However, some people said it didn’t take a lot of time to do the work.
“Putting the soil in the sea didn’t take a long time. It only took a few days. When they had completed their work, we stopped them immediately,” he said.
Provincial coordinator for rights group Adhoc Thong Chandara said that this case is collusion with local authorities because using soil in this way was large scale, not small.
“It is collusion with local authorities because this process is large scale. A lot of soil was used and people knew about it. The province has measures in place to act but nobody does. More importantly, it is the local authorities that do nothing. If a crime is committed, it should be reported at the district or provincial level. For natural resource crimes, the provincial authorities sometimes never try to find the people responsible,” he said.