Chinese COVID-19 vaccines safe, effective: Cambodian official

An airport worker transports the package of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine at the Phnom Penh International Airport in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on March 29, 2022. (Photo by Ly Lay/Xinhua)

Cambodian official said Chinese COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, and have helped stabilized health system and restore the economy.

China is a key vaccine supplier to Cambodia, with Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines being used widely in the country.

PHNOM PENH, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian health ministry's secretary of state and spokeswoman Or Vandine has said that China's Sinovac and Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, and the jabs are essential to protect lives.

"The vaccines we are using currently include Sinovac, Sinopharm, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and Moderna," she told reporters on Tuesday.

"These vaccines are safe, effective and of good quality because they are in the World Health Organization (WHO)'s list of vaccines for emergency use," she said.

The southeast Asian nation launched a national vaccination campaign against COVID-19 in February 2021, with China being the key vaccine supplier and most of the vaccines used in the kingdom are Sinovac and Sinopharm.

Vandine said vaccines are an effective tool to protect lives from the attack of COVID-19, urging all eligible people to get their booster doses, the third or the fourth shots, when their turns come in order to strengthen their immune system.

 A Cambodian nurse prepares a COVID-19 Sinopharm vaccine at the National Pediatric Hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Feb. 18, 2021. (Photo by Phearum/Xinhua)

WHO's representative to Cambodia Li Ailan said vaccines save lives, protect health and contribute to a long life.

"More Cambodians are being well protected through vaccinations including ongoing COVID-19 vaccination and Cambodia's routine immunization services," she wrote on social media.

The country has so far inoculated at least one dose of vaccines to almost 15 million people, equivalent to 93.4 percent of its 16 million population, the health ministry said, adding that 14.2 million, or 88.8 percent, have been fully vaccinated with two required shots.

With its high vaccination rates, Cambodia has resumed all socioeconomic activities and reopened its borders to fully vaccinated travelers without quarantine since last November.

Kin Phea, director-general of the International Relations Institute at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said vaccines have protected lives, stabilized health system and helped restore the economy.

"The royal government of Cambodia has made the correct decision to choose China as a strategic supplier of COVID-19 vaccines so that's why Cambodia has enough vaccines for its people," he told Xinhua.

Cambodia registered only one new COVID-19 case on Wednesday with new zero fatalities, taking the kingdom's confirmed total cases since the pandemic began to 136,258, including 3,056 deaths.