Garment workers get vaccinated against Covid-19 in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district on earlier this month. Hean Rangsey
Garment workers who have received their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine were asked to return for their second shot from April 25 to May 6, the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training announced.
Ministry spokesman Heng Sour, who is also head of the Covid-19 vaccination sub-commission for the labour ministry, said workers near the Tuol Pongro area and Veng Streng Street – which have been designated as Red Zones where residents are strictly forbidden from leaving theri homes – in Phnom Penh’s Por Sen Chey and Meanchey districts can receive their second shot at the Canadia Industrial Park Market and the ISI industrial park.
“Medical professionals will begin administering second does to brothers and sisters at those vaccination sites,” he said, adding workers who had the first shot and are in the area and Veng Streng Street could also return for a second one on the afternoon of April 26.
“The sub-commission of the labour ministry is organising sites for second doses in 10 districts in Phnom Penh, especially in the districts of Meanchey, Kamboul, Dangkor, Russey Keo and also two districts of Kandal province,” he said.
Sour added that the sub-commission would work with the national Covid-19 vaccination commission as well as relevant parties so that medical workers in each district could administer second doses.
He called on workers waiting for their second shot to be patient and comply with government lockdown orders. The ministry on April 7 administered the first shots to factory workers, focusing on priority areas.
Sour said that on April 29, the ministry will prepare second doses for workers in the Vattanac II Industrial Park Area on National Road 3, the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone and other factories which were not located in a red zone.
In addition to these main areas, the ministry is contacting factories around Phnom Penh and Kandal province not located in lockdown areas for other workers to get the first jab.
The ministry will focus on Kandal province's Ang Snuol, Kandal Stung, Khsach Kandal, Mok Kampoul, and Ponhea Leu districts. Vaccinations will be prepared for workers in those districts next week.
The ministry will expand the scope of vaccinations to other provinces such as Preah Sihanouk, Svay Rieng and Takeo. These provinces have been prioritised after Phnom Penh and Kandal. From April 7-16, 88, 899 workers and employees had been vaccinated against the disease.
