Cambodia marches forward in vaccination program

Cambodia continues to march forward with its goal of vaccinating at least 91 percent of her population or 14.5 million people against COVID to be among the most vaccinated nation in the world although it is not a well developed nation.

To date, Cambodia has received a total of 32,606,640 doses of vaccines from various sources but mainly those procured from China such as Sinovac and Sinopharm, a quantity of which has also been provided by the Government of China and the Military of China to Cambodia, close to two million doses provided through the Covax initiative of the World Health Organisation, of which slightly more than one million is the Jansen Johnson & Johnson vaccine and one million doses of Astra Zeneca from Japan.

Cambodia has four vaccination campaigns running concurrently which encompasses children aged six to 12, adolescents aged 12 to 17, adults aged 18 and above and third booster dose to front liners and as of October 11, to general population, starting in Phnom Penh and Kandal.

Cambodia is scheduled to receive three million more doses from China on September 28 as part of its orders as well as from Australia as part of the Covax initiative.

Cambodia is among the top 20 countries in the world to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and Phnom Penh is the most vaccinated city in the world.

However, it is important to note that vaccines alone are not the silver bullet as WHO’s Cambodia representative Dr Li Ailan said.

Cambodia’s success and experience in its vaccine rollout provides an important opportunity to learn for future pandemic preparedness, said Dr Li Ailan.

She added that the impressive vaccination programmes initiated  in Cambodia definitely help reduce severe disease, hospitalisation and death. The evidence shows much less severe disease, hospitalisation and deaths among those fully vaccinated.

“It is so crucial not to let the health care system be overwhelmed,” Dr Ailan said, adding that the high coverage and vaccinating all the vulnerable groups in all the provinces together with  implementing targeted public health and social measures helps protect the health care system.

“Vaccinations alone are not enough to help us to move towards living with the virus. In addition to vaccinations, the business sector and other parts of our society are learning how to manage Covid-19 risks,” she said.