AKP Phnom Penh, March 04, 2021 --

All foreign diplomatic corps, UN agencies, international financial institutions and international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) in Cambodia will be among the priority groups to get the newly-arrived AstraZeneca vaccine.

Speaking at a press conference held here at Calmette hospital this morning after getting his first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine, Samdech Techo Hun Sen said apart from the local officers and general public aged 60 years and older in Phnom Penh capital, and Kandal and Preah Sihanouk provinces being seriously affected by COVID-19 pandemic, all foreign diplomats, UN officers, staff at international financial institutions such as IMF, WB, ADB and INGOs in Cambodia will have access to AstraZeneca vaccine.

Other foreigners residing and working in Cambodia will also be vaccinated free of charge at different stages along with the Cambodian people, Samdech Techo Hun Sen underlined.

The Premier also took the opportunity to call on all Cambodian students, who have to study abroad, to get vaccinated.

Currently, the priority groups to receive COVID-19 vaccine are front line medical doctors and nurses, armed forces, journalists, garbage collectors, and so on.

Cambodia started the vaccination programme against COVID-19 on Feb. 10, three days after receiving the first batch of Sinopharm vaccine. Up to Mar. 3 evening, 125,668 people, both civil and armed forces, across the country have been inoculated.

By C. Nika & Heng Panha