ASEAN restocks supply of Pfizer doses protecting Cambodians from COVID-19

Phnom Penh, 19 March 2022 – The COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt lives and the fight to keep the virus at bay must continue. Today, 139,230 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines arrived in the Kingdom of Cambodia, donated through ASEAN’s Covid-19 Response Fund, and delivered by UNICEF, the world’s largest vaccine buyer. The vaccines were welcomed by H.E. Dr. Youk Sambath, Secretary of State, Ministry of Health and Foroogh Foyouzat, UNICEF's Representative in Cambodia.

The doses will be deployed to increase the protection of Cambodian people against COVID-19, including vulnerable citizens such as migrant workers, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities and pregnant women.

Today's ASEAN donation brings the total vaccine doses secured by Cambodia to nearly 44 million.

These doses are the third consignment of mRNA vaccines delivered to Cambodia by UNICEF. Over the last year, the Royal Government of Cambodia's expansion of cold-chain storage capacities, particularly ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezers, has allowed for increasing use of mRNA vaccines. UNICEF, with funding from DFAT, delivered 33 ULT freezers last month, which have recently been installed in every province to enable longer-term storage of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines across the country. Beyond the continued fight against COVID-19, ULT freezers could be used in the future for the storage of biomedical products and medicines for medical use and scientific research.

UNICEF has worked side-by-side with the Government and partners on Cambodia’s world-leading vaccination drive, through vaccine procurement and distribution, cold chain capacity development, training of frontline healthcare staff and nationwide awareness and community engagement campaigns to ensure every Cambodian has reliable, accurate, and up-to-date information about staying safe from COVID-19.  UNICEF will continue to support the fight against COVID-19 while strengthening the wider healthcare systems, during recovery and beyond. 

ABOUT ASEAN COVID-19 RESPONSE FUND

The COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund is a pool of financial resources to provide support to ASEAN Member States in the detection, control and prevention of COVID-19 transmission and in protecting the safety of medical professionals, healthcare workers, frontline workers, and the wider population from ASEAN Member States.