The Ministry of Health will vaccinate civil servants in charge of collecting tax revenue from the General Department of Customs and Excise of Cambodia (GDCE) and the General Department of Taxation (GDT) at hospitals in the capital and provinces in the next phase of Covid-19 vaccinations.

In reference to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s approval letter to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the health ministry noted in a March 3 press release that the campaign would proceed on a voluntary basis and cover contracted officials from the two units.

The press release also said that civil servants and staff of Angkor Enterprise are front-line workers who provide services to tourists and collect proceeds from selling tickets to visitors to the Angkor resort, Beng Mealea, and Koh Keo temples.

They will be vaccinated at hospitals in the capital and provinces during working hours from 8am to 5pm.

The health ministry stated that it would notify the public aged from 18 to 59 so that they can be vaccinated on a voluntary basis in the next phase.

Hun Manet, who is the first son of the prime minister and the first person to receive the Kingdom’s first Sinopharm Covid-19 jab on February 10, has received the second dose of the vaccine at Calmette Hospital on March 3, along with other senior officials.

Hun Many, the youngest son of the prime minister didn’t receive the first dose of the vaccine because of his health. So, he received the first dose on March 3.

Many took to Facebook. One post said: “Having consulted again with doctors about my health, I was permitted to get the Sinopharm vaccine after I wasn’t permitted to get the shot because I had the flu.”

Hun Many has also called on Cambodians to continue to join in stopping the spread of the virus by observing the guidelines of three protections and three don’ts. The “three protections” are wearing masks, washing hands and maintaining a physical distance of 1.5m from others. The “three don’ts” refer to avoiding crowded places, enclosed areas without ventilation, and making physical contact.

The Ministry of National Defence reported that from February 10 to March 2, 75,198 members of the armed forces have received the Sinopharm vaccine, while the health ministry had vaccinated 33,211 other people during the same period.

Meanwhile, the first phase of 324,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the COVAX Facility arrived in Cambodia on the night of March 2, which was a grant from the World Health Organisation, according to the prime minister.

“This is about trust, based on good cooperation between the Cambodian government and the international community in the fight against the pandemic. Cambodia is one of the first countries in the region to receive the vaccine through the COVAX facility.” The prime minister wrote on his official Facebook page.

At the same time the US Embassy in Cambodia also issued a press release to congratulate Cambodia on the successful arrival the AstraZeneca vaccine. This shipment was made possible through the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, a global initiative to support equitable access to vaccines.

The press release stated that The US recently announced the provision of an initial $2 billion – out of a planned $4 billion – to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, making the US the single largest contributor to the international response to the virus.

“Supporting Cambodia’s response to Covid-19 through the COVAX facility continues our long-standing public health cooperation and partnership with Cambodia,” said US ambassador Patrick Murphy.

He added that defeating the pandemic is a global challenge and the US is working both at home and abroad to stop the spread of the disease. Working together, we can defeat Covid-19 and prepare ourselves for future threats.

According to the health ministry, the initial 324,000 doses was the first phase of 1.1 million doses that the COVAX mechanism will provide to Cambodia by the end of May.

Cambodia is expected to receive about seven million doses of the vaccine through the COVAX mechanism.