US Pledges Vaccines to Cambodia through COVAX as COVID-19 Cases Creep Back Up

Ambassador Murphy met with Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn on May 17. Photo from Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
  • Phoung Vantha
  • May 19, 2021 7:40 AM

According to US Ambassador W. Patrick Murphy, Cambodia is set to receive 1.1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines through COVAX by the end of May 2021 and there’ll be more to come.



PHNOM PENH--Health authorities announced on May 19 that 392 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases were identified, along with one imported case.



Three more people have died as a result of COVID-19, bringing the national death toll to 159, but the Ministry of Health added that 612 more people recovered from COVID-19.



This brings the total number of recoveries up to 14,955, while Cambodia has reported 23,282 cases in total.



Cambodia’s vaccination drive continues to march on, with 2,132,754 people having received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine while 1,282,999 people have received two doses.



US Ambassador W. Patrick Murphy expressed his condolences for the losses that Cambodia has suffered during the latest COVID-19 outbreak and pledged that the US, through the WHO’s COVAX facility, will provide 1.1 million vaccine doses by the end of May 2021.



This comes after Ambassador Murphy met with Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn on May 17, where Ambassador Murphy reiterated that the partnership between the US and Cambodia throughout the pandemic had remained steadfast.



According to Ambassador Murphy, the US has provided more than $11 million in direct aid, critical technical assistance and strengthening existing health partnerships.



“Cambodia will receive 1.1 million vaccine doses by the end of May [2021], with more to come after that,” Ambassador Murphy said.



Cambodia’s vaccine schedule is set to bring in 9.5 million doses by the end of September 2021, with 3 million expected in May 2021, a further 3 million in June 2021 and then an extra 1 million in July 2021, followed by 1 million more in August 2021 and then finally an additional 1.5 million in September 2021.



So far Cambodia has received about 5,024,000 doses—the vast majority of which have come from China.



Correction: An earlier version of this story suggested that vaccines would be provided to Cambodia directly by the United States, but this was incorrect. The vaccines will be provided through the WHO’s COVAX facility which the US has funded.


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