1.5 million doses of Sinovac vaccine arrive in Cambodia as cases are still rising

PHNOM PENH, March 28 (Phnom Penh Post/ANN): Around 1.5 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine that Cambodia had procured from China for $15 million to expand the government's vaccination drive in the fight against Covid-19 touched down in Phnom Penh International Airport on the morning of March 26.

And the arrival is timely as Cambodia is now ging through a Covid-19 cases are rising after several clusters have been identified as of Sunday (March 28).

Present at the handover ceremony were Ministry of Economy and Finance secretary of state Vongsey Vissoth and Chinese ambassador to Cambodia Wang Wentian, among others.

Ministry of Health secretary of state and spokeswoman Youk Sambath told reporters at the airport that the Sinovac vaccine is as effective as the Sinopharm jab and is for those aged 18 and over, both requiring two doses for each person and are to be administered two weeks apart.

"As with Sinopharm, those with a history of allergy to vaccination and patients in serious condition with high fever will not be inoculated with the jab," she said, adding that Sinovac is 70 to 80 per cent effective.

Sambath said the government planned to purchase an additional four million doses of the Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines in stages depending on available stocks in Cambodia as the storage of Covid-19 vaccines requires certain temperature to ensure its effectiveness.

Cambodia on Sunday reported 86 new local Covid-19 cases and one new death, the country's Ministry of Health (MoH) said in a statement.

Of the new infections, 25 were found in capital Phnom Penh.

According to the MoH, since the start of the pandemic in January last year, the Southeast Asian country has officially registered a total of 2,233 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 10 deaths and 1,166 recoveries. - Phnom Penh Post/ANN