Nearly 300,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines, donated by the Dutch government through the Covax Facility, touched down in Cambodia on December 10, with 600,000 more set to be shipped through the facility in the next week.

Speaking at Phnom Penh International Airport, Ministry of Health secretary of state York Sambath said Cambodia also hopes to receive 2.3 million doses from Australia by the end of the year.

More donations are in the pipeline for next year and awaiting confirmation to the ministry and government from the Covax Facility, she said, noting that a considerable share would be used as boosters.

As other countries kick off vaccination drives for children aged 3 and up with Sinovac’s jab, Prime Minister Hun Sen recommended the national Covid-19 vaccination committee and ministry review the pertinent data and conduct research on a similar campaign in the Kingdom, Sambath said.

World Health Organisation (WHO) representative to Cambodia Li Ailan described vaccines as a tool to be used to end the pandemic and help the people change and adapt to the “new normal”.

She underscored that the emergence of the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus was a wake-up call that Cambodia would still need more jabs for the Covid fight down the road.

To date, the Kingdom has received more than 40 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines, the bulk of which came from China.