AKP Phnom Penh, March 02, 2021 --

A special aircraft with 324,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine licensed to the Serum Institute of India (SII) known as COVISHIELD, landed at the Phnom Penh International Airport this evening.

H.E. Prof. Mam Bunheng, Minister of Health, represented the Royal Government of Cambodia to receive the vaccine, joined by Dr. Li Ailan, representative of World Health Organisation (WHO) and Ms. Foroogh Foyouzat, representative of United Nation Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Cambodia.

Other senior officials from the Ministry of Health, WHO and UNICEF, as well as EU Ambassador to Cambodia H.E. Ms. Carmen Moreno also attended the ceremony.

Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, has recently announced that he will get vaccinated with AstraZeneca vaccine on Mar. 4, 2021, at 8:30 am, at Calmette Hospital along with a press conference.

According to the Premier, the 324,000 doses are the first batch of the 1.104.000 doses of India-made AstraZeneca vaccine that Cambodia must receive in the first half of 2021, as a primary aid provided by the COVAX Centre (COVAX Facility).

COVAX will provide vaccine for 20 percent of the total Cambodian population of 16 million people, which is equivalent to 3.2 million people or 6.4 million doses of vaccine, he pointed out.

"This is the fruit of the international cooperation that Cambodia has made with its multilateral partners and the United Nations, especially with WHO and UNICEF," the Premier underlined. "Cambodia would like to thank all the countries, companies and charitable people around the world who have supported us through COVAX."

On Feb. 7, Cambodia also obtained 600,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine donated by China, of which 300,000 doses for the Ministry of Health and the rest for the Ministry of National Defence.

By C. Nika