PHNOM PENH: The Kingdom of Cambodia has received more than 188 thousand doses of the Moderna vaccines on Sunday. The donations were given through the COVAX Facility program, being the first time Cambodia has received the Moderna brand, enabling Cambodia to diversify its vaccine portfolio.

Around 6 pm on Sunday, at the Phnom Penh International, Health Ministry Secretary of State Youk Sambath received the donations along with World Health Organization representative to Cambodia Dr Li Ailan, and UNICEF representative to Cambodia Foroogh Foyozat.

The COVAX facility is an initiative promoted by the World Health Organization in partnership with international development organizations to provide vaccines for poor or developing countries.

Cambodia has already received three million doses of vaccines through the COVAX Facility program. As the largest single vaccine buyer in the world, UNICEF is the leading procurement and supply agency for COVAX.

UNICEF representative to Cambodia, Foroogh Foyozat, has stated that “through the COVAX Facility, Cambodia has received about 60% of the scheduled total doses of vaccines, and is expect that by the end of this year, the AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccines will be available in the Kingdom”.

According to the Health Ministry Secretary of State, Youk Sambath, the newly arrived Moderna vaccines will be taken to a warehouse before being distributed to areas where lacks vaccination to people that are still not inoculated.

As of Monday, Cambodia has already received 40 million vaccines, 30 million of them as a donation from the People’s Republic of China.