4.5M vaccines to arrive in June, shots on target

CAMBODIA’S next shipment of Covid-19 vaccines will arrive in June, accelerating the vaccination drive and enabling it to reach five to six million people this year, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced on May 29.

"We will have enough vaccines for our people. As planned, an additional 4.5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines will arrive in June along with another batch a month later. We can give jabs to at least five to six million of the target number of 10 million people by the end of this year," Hun Sen said in an audio message.

He also requested that people who have not been vaccinated be patient while waiting for the vaccines to arrive. He noted that it remains important for everyone to maintain health guidelines including the “three protections and three don’ts” and that these measures also applied to people who have already been vaccinated.

The prime minister added that vaccines could not be distributed to the provinces yet as they are not the priority now as vaccine distribution in the Kingdom would adhere to the government’s “blossoming strategy”.

This strategy begins in the capital and neighbouring Kandal province before expanding outward in all directions to other areas in order of priority, with vaccines being administered first in the most populated areas.

“So from now, I suggest that all ministers, municipal and provincial governors stop asking me to provide vaccines here or there first,” he said.

He said he will discuss with Ministry of Health secretary of state Or Vandine, who is also head of the national commission for Covid-19 vaccination programme, on how to prioritise distribution in the provinces.

According to the health ministry’s report on May 29, Cambodia had vaccinated 2,514,790 people – or 25.15 per cent – of the nation’s target number of 10 million people.