PHNOM PENH: The Japanese government has donated to the Kingdom of Cambodia approximately 300,000 doses of AstraZeneca of Covid-19 vaccine through the Covax mechanism. The vaccines have arrived in the Phnom Penh International on Sunday evening with the presence of Minister of Health Mam Bunheng as well as Ambassador of Japan to Cambodia Mikami Masahiro.
WHO Representative in Cambodia Dr Li Ailan and Representative of UNICEF in Cambodia Foroogh Foyouzat were present at the Phnom Penh International Airport to receive the 300,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines. The vaccine is donated from Japan to Cambodia. Another batch of vaccines provided through the COVAX Facility program, which is an initiative promoted by the World Health Organization in partnership with international development organizations to provide vaccines for poor or developing countries.
On the occasion, Minister of Health Mam Bunheng has expressed his appreciation to Japan for its assistance to Cambodia on battling COVID-19, while the Japanese Ambassador Mikami Masahiro has reaffirmed Japan’s support to combat the pandemic. Mikami Masahiro has also reminded Japanese’s assistance to Cambodia of $60 million dollars in different fields of public health, such as medical equipment, renovation of hospitals, infection prevention measures at the border as well as vehicles to transport and store vaccines.
Recently, Japan has also provided a finance of $227 million used to financially support Cambodian citizens affected by COVID-19 as well as to strengthen provision within the healthcare system. The new batch of vaccines are in addition to the 3 million doses that Cambodia have already received from the COVAX Facility.
In total, the Kingdom has more than 41 million doses of vaccines against Covid-19, coming from purchases and donations. Of those, almost 8 million doses are Sinopharm vaccines, while nearly 30 million are Sinovac, 2.6 million doses of AstraZeneca, more than a million doses of Johnson & Johnson, and approximately 190 thousand doses of Moderna vaccines against Covid-19.
