A woman is inoculated with the Covid-19 vaccine in Phnom Penh's Russey Keo district. Yousos Apdoulrashim
Phnom Penh municipal governor Khuong Sreng appealed to all private sector employers to allow their staff to get vaccinated when invited to by their local authorities, while Minister of Labour and Vocational Training Ith Sam Heng told factory workers they would get a day off of work to go and get inoculated.
In a letter on May 25, Sreng said medical staffs from the Ministry of National Defence, Samdech Techo Voluntary Youth Doctor Association (TYDA) and other organisations have been vaccinating Phnom Penh residents aged 18 and over.
He said that as of May 24, a total of 1,633,266 people had received both doses.
“To accelerate the vaccination of all people aged 18 and over in Phnom Penh and finish by the end of June, 2021, as recommended by the government, the municipal administration appeals to the management of factories, enterprises and companies in the private sector in the capital to permit their workers to miss work twice if necessary in order to get [both doses of] Covid-19 vaccine,” Sreng said.
Labour minister Sam Heng on May 24 issued an announcement addressed to all factories and enterprises mandating that their workers be given a paid day off in order to get vaccinated with their second doses.
He told workers to get in touch with the ministry if their workplace does not give them paid time off in order to get inoculated.
The minister added that obstructing someone from getting vaccinated was a crime as stated in the Covid-19 and labour laws and other legal standards.
“The owners and directors of factories and enterprises have to encourage their workers to get vaccinated, or they will be fined and face possible legal action as stated in the relevant laws,” he said.
World Health Organisation (WHO) representative to Cambodia Li Ailan congratulated Cambodia for progress the country has made in vaccinating the population, with more than 2.2 million people having been immunised to date.
While visiting vaccination sites on May 25 in Phnom Penh’s Chbar Ampov district, Li said the vaccination programme was going well and that people were happy to get their shots.
“I can say that the Cambodian people are very lucky to have the opportunity to get the Covid-19 vaccines and Cambodia is the first country to get the vaccines through the Covax mechanism,” she said, referring to the WHO initiative which aims to ensure equitable access to Covid-19 vaccinations globally.
She also reminded the public that Covid-19 had still not subsided and vaccines alone will not necessarily protect them from the virus. She said they should also avoid close contact settings and applied preventive measures constantly.
She said there are three things that concern her: new variants that are more transmissible; mild cases in which the patients have no symptoms of the disease and end up spreading it to many people unknowingly; and the loosening of health measures.
“I believe that the people don’t want to see the number of new cases and deaths drop in one week or one month or three months from now. The number of cases can drop when we all join together and protect each other today,” she said.
Separately, Ministry of Health spokeswoman Or Vandine said the vaccination campaign in the districts of Chbar Ampov, Chamkarmon and Prampi Makara kicked off on May 25. These three districts have more than 260,000 residents who need to be vaccinated.
Nationwide, 22.7 per cent of the population has now been vaccinated out of the projected 10-13 million people that the government says will need to be vaccinated in order to achieve herd immunity.
