THE Ministry of Health plans to distribute 1.5 million doses of A(H1N1) influenza vaccine to 20 provinces at the end of this month, a health official said Tuesday.

San Chan Seoun, director of the programme overseeing the distribution of the vaccines, said the World Health Organisation (WHO) delivered the Kingdom’s second round of vaccines last week. An initial round arrived in March.

“At the end of this month, health officials will give the vaccines to healthcare providers, [to be administered to] pregnant women, infants between 6 months and 2 years and people with serious lung disease,” he said, and noted that those groups were considered to face the highest risk of contracting the virus, also known as swine flu.

Some 300,000 doses have already been distributed to high-risk groups in Phnom Penh, Kandal, Kampong Cham and Kampong Chhnang, he said.

He added that police and soldiers would also be inoculated during the second round. “Police and soldiers are also in high-risk groups, because when someone contracts swine flu ... they will come to their aid,” he said.

The latest figures from the Ministry of Health’s Communicable Diseases Control Department show that there had been 572 reported cases of swine flu – and six deaths – in Cambodia as of May 6. As of May 9, the virus had caused an estimated 18,036 deaths worldwide, according to WHO statistics.