PHNOM PENH, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia will start offering a fifth dose of COVID-19 vaccines to priority groups from June 9 onwards, Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said on Friday.
The priority groups include leaders of the government, the senate, the parliament, frontline health workers, government officials, civil servants, armed forces, the elderly, staff of embassies, national and international organizations, journalists, and celebrities.
He said the interval between the fourth and the fifth doses is at least three months.
"Vaccines have not only played a critical role in preventing deaths and infections, but also help prevent other infectious diseases such as flu," Hun Sen said in a voice message released publicly.
Meanwhile, the prime minister said the Southeast Asian country has reported no new cases of COVID-19 for 14 days straight, and there are only eight active cases in the kingdom.
Cambodia has so far inoculated at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines to 15 million people, or 93.8 percent of its 16 million population, the health ministry said, adding that of them, 14.27 million, or 89 percent, have been fully vaccinated with two required shots.
Also, some 9 million, or 56.2 percent, have got a third dose, and 2.3 million, or 14.4 percent, have had a fourth dose.
Buoyed by its high vaccination rates, Cambodia has resumed all socioeconomic activities and reopened its borders to fully vaccinated travelers without quarantine since November last year.
China's Sinovac and Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines have been widely used in the kingdom's immunization program. ■
