A medical worker inoculates an adolescent with a dose of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Aug. 26, 2021. Cambodia has administered at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines to 10.07 million people, or 63 percent of the Southeast Asian nation's 16-million population, officials said on Thursday. (Photo by Phearum/Xinhua)
PHNOM PENH, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia has administered at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines to 10.07 million people, or 63 percent of the Southeast Asian nation's 16-million population, officials said on Thursday.
Of them, 8.13 million have completed the two-dose inoculation, Ministry of Health's secretary of state and spokeswoman Or Vandine said in a report.
"As of Aug. 25, some 88.35 percent of the 10 million targeted adults and 62.87 percent of the 2 million targeted adolescents aged 12-17 have been vaccinated," she said.
Cambodia began a COVID-19 vaccination drive in February, targeting to inoculate 12 million people, or 75 percent of the total population, by the end of this year in order to build herd immunity.
Most of the vaccines used in the country's immunization program are China's Sinovac and Sinopharm. According to the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia, to date China has provided 22.3 million vaccine doses to Cambodia, of which 3.8 million were humanitarian donations.
Cambodian government chief spokesman Phay Siphan called the kingdom's inoculation drive a "great success," expressing his profound gratitude to China for providing vaccines to Cambodia regularly and timely.
"If there was no China's strong support, we would not have enough vaccines to inoculate our people. We highly value this generous help," he told Xinhua.
"I'd like to say that our joint COVID-19 fight should be a role model for international cooperation and there is no doubt that it will contribute to building a community of shared future between Cambodia and China."
Phea Sokheng, a 20-year-old student at the Phnom Penh International University, showed her thanks to the Cambodian government for providing free vaccines and gratitude to China for donating and selling vaccines to the kingdom.
"'A friend in need is a friend indeed.' China, your kind support will be engraved in our hearts forever," she told Xinhua.
Sokheng, who has been fully vaccinated with Sinovac vaccine, said she was quite confident in the quality and efficacy of the vaccine, saying that it would protect her from COVID-19 and its variants.
Cambodia confirmed 423 new COVID-19 cases, including 111 imported ones on Thursday, raising the national total caseload to 90,958, the Ministry of Health said, adding that six more fatalities had been reported, bringing the overall death toll to 1,841.
Another 291 patients had recovered, taking the total number of recoveries to 86,993, the ministry added. Enditem
