PHNOM PENH, Nov 2 (NNN-AKP) – Cambodia yesterday began to vaccinate five-year-old children with China’s Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine, as the vaccination for the population aged six years and older was completed, Prime Minister, Samdech Techo Hun Sen, said.
Speaking at the campaign launching ceremony, held at the Peace Palace in the capital, Phnom Penh, Hun Sen called on parents or children’s legal guardians, to bring their kids for the jab in order to protect their lives from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Vaccinations are the key to fighting against COVID-19,” he said. “Vaccines reduce infections, hospitalisations and fatalities.”
Ministry of Health (MoH)’s Secretary of State, Or Vandine said, five-year-olds in the country will receive two doses of the vaccine and the gap between the first and second shot is 28 days.
When taking their kids for the jab, parents or legal guardians must bring along a copy of their birth certificates, family record books or passports, she said.
“As of Oct 31, Cambodia vaccinated 85.68 percent, or 13.7 million of its 16-million population,” he said. “We have achieved our target about eight months earlier than planned.”
The country had inoculated 100 percent of the adult population of 10 million, 97.89 percent of the 12-17 age group of nearly 1.83 million, he said.
“We are recovering from the COVID-19 crisis, and social and economic activities in all areas have been gradually reopened, with the adaptation to the new normal,” Hun Sen said. “Today, schools across the country are reopened.”
Cambodia recorded 91 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 yesterday, bringing the total tally to 118,613, the Ministry of Health said, adding, six new fatalities were registered, bringing the overall death toll to 2,794.
“If compared to our population of 16 million, the infection rate is 0.74 percent and the mortality rate is 0.017 percent. The rates are relatively low,” the prime minister said.
“But if we compare the number of fatalities and infection cases, it’s high, up to 2.35 percent, so we need to strengthen our treatment capacity,” he said.– NNN-AKP
