Prime Minister Hun Sen has instructed the vaccination team from the Ministry of National Defence to accelerate its campaign and immunise the roughly 520,000 residents in the red zone and not to worry about a shortage as one million additional doses of vaccines are scheduled to arrive this month.

In an audio message on May 5, Hun Sen said the ad-hoc national commission for Covid-19 vaccination programme had provided 900,000 doses of vaccines to the defence ministry for inoculating residents and workers in the red zones, which could cover around 450,000 people while more than 520,000 people are currently living there.

“I want to stress that in the red zone, unless all people are vaccinated, we cannot open it. I want to make it clear that we don’t have a shortage of vaccines for all the 520,000 people in the red zone because one million doses of vaccines will arrive on May 11 and 15,” he said.

He told defense minister Tea Banh to complete administration of the first doses by May 15 for all the 520,000 residents in the zones because are facing hardship and therefore should be prioritised.

“We will shower everyone in Phnom Penh and Kandal province with vaccines, but first we must do this in the red zones. So, sooner than later, Phnom Penh and Kandal province will have plenty of vaccines that we have procured from China, a vaccine source that has never dried up,” Hun Sen said.

The military kicked off the vaccination campaign in the red zones on May 1 with a goal to vaccinate all of the people living there in one month.

The defence ministry said in its report on May 5 that in the first four days they have vaccinated nearly 150,000 people in the target districts of Meanchey, Dankgor, Por Sen Chey and Kambol.

Ith Sarath – Deputy Commander-in-Chief and Joint Chief-of-Staff of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces – said there are 37 vaccination units deployed at 54 locations within the red zones.

As of May 4, Cambodia had vaccinated 1,525,447 people across the country, according to the Ministry of Health.