‘Bloom campaign’ helps Cambodia speed up vaccination

The advent of the Covid-19 vaccine is a bright spot in the fight against the virus, but it reflects global inequality.

As many regions continue to struggle under successive waves of infections, vaccine nationalism is on the rise.

In that context, Cambodia, despite being a less developed economy, still quickly purchased enough vaccines and vaccinated the community.

Cambodia aims to inject about one million vaccine doses per month, vaccinating 62% of the population (10 million people) in 2021 or early 2022.

From the beginning, the country has made efforts to ensure vaccine supply.

Cambodia receives great support from China and Australia.

The country has received a total of more than 7 million vaccine doses.

Prime Minister Hun Sen said: `Our country is poor (in terms of material wealth), but not poor in thinking.`

People at a vaccination site in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, May 1.

Another reason for the initial vaccination success of the country of 16 million people is the `flowering` campaign, meaning the vaccination process starts with the center of the country and then gradually moves outward.

The vaccination program launched on February 10, initially focusing on susceptible groups such as frontline medical workers and military officers.

Authorities divided the country into three zones for vaccination purposes: high priority, medium priority and low priority.

`With a ‘bloom’ approach, vaccination in high priority areas should be completed by 2021, as soon as possible,` according to government documents.

High priority areas include 70 cities across the country, including Phnom Penh and Kandal, as well as the cities of Sihanoukville, Poipet, Bavet… The total number of people aged 18 and over in these areas is 4.9 million.

The average priority area includes 64 cities, the total number of people over 18 years old is 2.8 million.

Like many Southeast Asian countries, Cambodian people are quite confident in the Covid-19 vaccine.

`The epidemic situation in the country has worsened since February 20. Those who have experienced the impact of Covid-19 are forced to get vaccinated,` he said.

Since then, Cambodia has made incredible progress in the vaccination race, while many other countries, especially poor countries, have yet to deploy or only provide small amounts of vaccines to their people.

However, the country still faces some challenges.