AKP Phnom Penh, March 03, 2021 --

The United States congratulates Cambodia on the successful arrival of 324,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine on Mar. 2, 2021, according to a press release AKP received today. 

This shipment was made possible through the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, a global initiative to support equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. The United States recently announced the provision of an initial US$2 billion—out of a total planned US$4 billion— to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, making the United States the single largest contributor to the international response to COVID-19. Cambodia is among the first countries in the region to have received COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX facility.

“Supporting Cambodia’s response to COVID-19 through the COVAX facility continues our long-standing public health cooperation and partnership with Cambodia,” said U.S. Ambassador H.E. W. Patrick Murphy.  “Defeating the pandemic is a global challenge and the United States is working both at home and abroad to stop the spread of the disease. Working together, we can defeat COVID-19 and prepare ourselves for future threats.”

The U.S. contributions to COVAX, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), will support the purchase and delivery of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for the world’s most vulnerable and at-risk populations in 92 low- and middle-income countries. This support is critical to controlling the pandemic, slowing the emergence of new variants, and helping to restart the global economy.

The United States will also work with other donors to make further pledges and commitments to meet the COVAX facility’s critical needs. The U.S government is committed to collaborating with partners and governments to support global COVID-19 vaccination efforts.

The United States has worked closely with Cambodian stakeholders throughout the duration of the pandemic to protect public health and strengthen the response to COVID-19. Longstanding health partnerships in Cambodia have facilitated this work, including through the U.S. Centres for Disease Control (CDC), the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S Naval Medical Research Centre, and USAID.  These partnership have bolstered the surveillance, contact tracing, research, and public awareness needed to control the pandemic and save lives.

In addition, through USAID, the United States has provided more than US$11 million in special funding to help Cambodia prevent, detect, and respond to the pandemic outbreak and to support economic recovery. These resources have helped the Kingdom with risk communication, community engagement, infection prevention and control, case management, laboratory systems, and have provided important commodities such as basic hygiene supplies, essential viral transport media, cold-chain boxes for safe transport of specimens to labs for analysis, personal protective equipment for laboratory staff and frontline health workers, and IT equipment to strengthen COVID-19 health education related messaging and contact tracing system management.

(Photo: Khem Sovannara & El Vattanac)

By Heng Panha