Factory workers in Phnom Penh’s Pur Senchey district gathered outside their village chiefs’ homes on Friday, petitioning to receive the documentation needed for a Covid-19 vaccine so they can be allowed back to work.
The Defense Ministry has been put in charge of a red-zone vaccination drive set to begin on Saturday and which aims to inoculate more than 800,000 people in Phnom Penh districts hit hard by Covid-19.
Exiled opposition politician Sam Rainsy urged Cambodians to receive the currently available Chinese vaccines to protect themselves from Covid-19, though Prime Minister Hun Sen doubted Rainsy’s sincerity amid a global vaccine shortage.
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday expressed hopes for “large-scale” vaccinations in the country soon with a target of 1 million people vaccinated a month.
Cambodia has replenished its Covid-19 vaccine stores with 1.5 million doses of China’s Sinovac-produced vaccine, the first vaccine purchased by the government rather than being donated.
The Health Ministry reiterated Thursday that social distancing, masks, washing hands and avoiding large gatherings are still necessary despite vaccinations to stem the spread of Covid-19, after three soldiers tested positive despite receiving inoculations.
As crowds have packed some hospitals in hopes of getting Covid-19 shots, the Health Ministry suspended vaccinations for people aged 59 and under, saying remaining Sinopharm shots would be used as second doses for people who have already received one jab.
Prime Minister Hun Sen received the country’s first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Thursday, the morning after calling for either a travel ban or widespread vaccinations in Preah Sihanouk province amid a rise in Covid-19 cases there.
A doctor who died of a heart attack the night after receiving a Sinopharm Covid-19 shot and a migrant worker who died of kidney failure after returning from Thailand did not die because of the vaccine or coronavirus, authorities said this week.
The Health Ministry on Wednesday announced 34 new Covid-19 cases, all related to the “February 20” cluster, including two women who had been quarantined at a hotel in Svay Rieng province, the first confirmed cases found there.
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