A medical worker administers a coronavirus vaccine at a school in Meanchey district’s Stung Meanchey commune. Heng Chivoan
A total of 23,658 people in designated red zones in four districts of Phnom Penh were vaccinated on the first day of a large-scale campaign administered by the Ministry of National Defence.
The military’s goal is to vaccinate 450,000 people in its one-month campaign in the four districts’ red zones including Meanchey, Dangkor, Kambol, and Por Sen Chey.
Ith Sarath – Deputy Commander-in-Chief and Joint Chief of Staff of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces who is overseeing the campaign in Phnom Penh – said on April 30 that the campaign will vaccinate people in the the districts’ 33 communes.
The first phase of vaccinations administering the first dose to each person will take place from May 1-15 and the second phase will be from May 16-30.
“This vaccination is for all people aged 18 and over … The total number of people to be vaccinated is nearly 500,000,” he said.
Sarath said a total of 900,000 doses of vaccines – 500,000 doses Sinovac and 400,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccines – provided by the national vaccination commission had already arrived and was in a defence ministry warehouse.
The defence ministry said the one-month vaccination campaign will employ 1,490 medical workers deployed at 45 sites within the 33 communes.
Ministry of Health spokeswoman Or Vandine, who is also head of the ad-hoc national commission for the Covid-19 vaccine programme, urged both medics and residents to remain vigilant in the process.
“Please brothers and sisters in the four districts – keep order and discipline and practice all health measures such as wearing masks, washing your hands frequently and keep a personal distance of at least 1.5m.
“You must also be cooperative with the local authorities and officials at vaccination sites,” she said.
Vandine cautioned that people should not flock en masse to get the jabs at the same time because doing risk spreading the virus.
“You have to take the utmost care and remember that you’ve come to get vaccinated against Covid-19, not to get infected with it,” she said.
As of May 1, Cambodia had vaccinated more than 1.3 million of its population starting from February 10, ranking second in ASEAN for total vaccinations after Singapore, according to Prime Minister Hun Sen.
