Cambodia and China on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the construction of a COVID-19 vaccine filling and packaging factory in Cambodia.
The MoU was signed by Mam Bunheng, the Cambodian Health Minister, and Gao Qiang, General Manager of China’s Sinovac Life Sciences Co. Ltd.
“Under the deal, the Cambodia Pharmaceutical Enterprise is given rights to build a COVID-19 vaccine filling and packaging factory.
“The Cambodian Government has contracted the purchase of vaccines from Sinovac company for three years – from 2024 to 2026,” Bunheng said.
He said the construction of the vaccine filling and packaging factory would be to meet the demand for vaccines among Cambodians and foreigners living in Cambodia.
According to the ministry of health, Cambodia has so far administered COVID-19 vaccines to over 15 million people or 94 per cent of its total population of 16 million.
The ministry added that China’s Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines had been widely used in the kingdom’s immunisation programme.
Due to its high vaccination rate, Cambodia has resumed all socio-economic activities and reopened its borders to fully-vaccinated travellers without quarantine, since last November.
The ministry of health said that the southeast Asian nation had reported no new cases of COVID-19 for the last 25 days, adding that only four active cases remained in the kingdom.