A woman receives Pfizer vaccine for her fourth dose at a market in Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changvar district on January 16. Hong Menea
Over the first four days of the Covid-19 fourth-dose vaccination campaign, nearly 100,000 people volunteered to get the jabs. The campaign kicked off on January 14 as the Omicron variant continues to spread in the Kingdom.
Ministry of Health spokeswoman Or Vandine, who is also head of the national Covid-19 vaccination committee, said that after Prime Minister Hun Sen announced the availability of fourth doses, many people went to various places for vaccinations.
The locations available for fourth doses include Calmette Hospital, National Maternal and Child Health Centre, Preah Ang Duong Hospital, National Pediatric Hospital, Preah Kosomak Hospital, Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital and all health centres in Phnom Penh.
“I have noticed that many of our people are happy to receive their fourth dose. I believe they have a clear understanding of the need for this booster shot,” she said.
Vandine reiterated her call for the people to exercise extra caution to prevent person-to-person transmission and to strengthen protective health measures.
“In order for our new normal lives to continue to be sustainable because we do not want to go back to the way of lockdowns or bans on travel and gatherings… we must unite to curb the spread of Covid-19,” Vandine added.
According to the health ministry, as of January 17 more than 4.6 million people had been vaccinated with third doses and nearly 100,000 had received the fourth shot.
The Ministry of National Defence began administering fourth doses to soldiers and their families on January 17 at Preah Ket Mealea Hospital.
Ith Sarath, deputy commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) and head of the military’s vaccination commission, said the military was testing out the process for administering the Pfizer vaccines.
“Pfizer is different from the Chinese-made Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines. The Chinese jabs are easier to maintain than Pfizer. For Sinovac and Sinopharm, we can just bring the vaccines to the people to administer them. But with Pfizer, we must bring the people to get the vaccines,” he said, explaining that the jabs require cold storage at a temperature lower than 80 degrees Celsius and Cambodia does not have this capability in the provinces yet.
