Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, has announced to set aside some budget to buy COVID-19 vaccines to give to the citizens free of charge.

“I’ve instructed the Ministry of Economy and Finance to reserve some budget to buy 1 million doses of vaccine for the first stage for the high-risk and risk groups,” said the Premier in a Facebook post this evening.

One million doses can be used only with 500,000 people (a person needs two doses) while the population of Cambodia is about 16 million, both children and adultes, therefore around 10 million people need vaccines, he added.

“Now some countries have developed and put into use and will sell [vaccines] to other countries as well. This evening, I advised the health minister to discuss with development partners, especially the World Health Organisation, to determine from which country we should buy the vaccine,” Samdech Techo Hun Sen said. “In a situation where our country is short of funds for additional purchases, I have instructed the two ministers (of health and economy and finance) to discuss with both bilateral and multilateral development partners to seek additional assistance to help our people.”

Samdech Techo Prime Minister expressed his strong hope that the development partners will assist or at least sell [vaccines] to Cambodia at a reasonable price. “I also advised the economy and finance minister to prepare a budget for the purchase of 2 to 3 million doses for the next phase,” he stressed.