PM Hun Sen announces budget to buy vaccine against COVID-19 for citizen for free

The Prime Minister of Cambodia, Samdech Techo Hun Sen, stated that he had instructed the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Economy to prepare a budget to purchase the COVID-19 vaccine to be given to the people for free.

Samdech Techo Hun Sen confirmed on Facebook on the evening of December 7, 2020 that "In the past, with the monitoring of the production of vaccines against COVID-19 of various countries, I have introduced the Minister of Health and the Minister of Economy and Finance to prepare a budget to buy this vaccine and give it to our people for free as a first step."

Samdech Techo added, "Now some countries have produced and put into use and will be selling to other countries as well. This evening, I recommend that the Minister of Health discuss with development partners, especially the World Health Organization, to determine from which country we should buy the vaccine.

Samdech Techo also stated that he instructed the Minister of Economy and Finance to prepare a budget for the purchase of one millions doses in the first phase to be given to those who work in high-risk. One million doses can only be given to 500,000 people (because each one needs two doses) when we have a population of 16 million, young and old, of which about 10 million need to be vaccinated.

Samdech Techo Prime Minister said that in a situation where Cambodia lacks the funds to buy more, Samdech advised the two ministers to discuss with development partners, both bilateral and multilateral, to seek additional assistance to help the people.

However, Samdech Techo Hun Sen hopes that development partners will provide assistance to the people or at least sell at a reasonable price. Samdech Techo also instructed the Minister of Economy and Finance to prepare a budget for the purchase of 2 to 3 million doses for the next phase.