Cambodia begins COVID-19 vaccination campaign

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) - Cambodia began a COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Wednesday, the country’s premier said.

“Cambodia has finally officially started vaccinating its people. This is the fruit of the cooperation between Cambodia and China,” Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a Facebook post.

Beijing donated 600,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine to Cambodia and the first shipment reached the kingdom last Sunday.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the party, Army and Chinese, especially President [Xi] Jinping, who gave the generous help to Cambodia,” the prime minister said.

The vaccination campaign started with the premier’s eldest son taking the first jab.

The Southeast Asian country has reported a total of 476 COVID-19 cases until Tuesday night with only 19 patients remaining in hospitals. The country has reported no deaths due to the infection.

On Sunday, Hun, 68, said he would not be vaccinated as Chinese officials informed him “the vaccine is intended for people between the ages of 18 and 59.”