Nearly 800 People Vaccinated on First Two Days of COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign

[Bong Burgundy]

Some 780 people, of them 240 women, have voluntarily received their first doses of Sinopharm vaccine during the first two days of the vaccination campaign against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), pointed out H.E. Mrs. Or Vandine, Secretary of State and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Health.

At the same time, she added, about 300 people, half of them are women, have not been allowed to get vaccinated due to their health problem.

The vaccination campaign will continue until no vaccine left, in four hospitals in Phnom Penh, including Calmette Hospital for senior ministers, ministers, and secretaries of state; Ang Duong Hospital for under secretaries of state; Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital for municipal and provincial governors; and the National Pediatric Hospital for journalists.

The first batch (600,000) of the one million doses of China-donated vaccine arrived in Phnom Penh on Feb. 7. Some 300,000 doses of which are for the Ministry of Health and the rest 300,000 doses for the Ministry of National Defence.

The vaccine administration for armed forces is at Preah Ket Mealea Hospital in Phnom Penh.

The vaccination against COVID-19 in Cambodia is on voluntary basis and for those aged between 18 to 59 years old.

https://www.akp.gov.kh/post/detail/226839

[scobienz]

Why only 18-59 year olds. All the evidence suggests that they are the least at risk group of falling seriously ill.

In every other country around the world the vaccination strategy has been to prioritise health care workers and the elderly and clinically vulnerable.

[ផោមក្លិនស្អុយ]

Why only 18-59 year olds. All the evidence suggests that they are the least at risk group of falling seriously ill.

In every other country around the world the vaccination strategy has been to prioritise health care workers and the elderly and clinically vulnerable.

g
They only have the chinese vaccine and isn't recommended for those over 60.
It isn't as idiotic as it seems

[scobienz]

Mmmmmm. Developing a vaccine that doesn’t protect those most likely to get seriously ill or die sounds silly to me. It’s a statistical fact that serious illness and death is very very low for those under 60.

[v12]

Mmmmmm. Developing a vaccine that doesn’t protect those most likely to get seriously ill or die sounds silly to me. It’s a statistical fact that serious illness and death is very very low for those under 60.

Unfortunately, this is not how vaccine development works.....

You create "something", based on previous knowledge, insights, etc, and then evaluate how the vaccine works out. Many vaccines under development never make it to market, simply, because the effectiveness, safety, etc is considered insufficient.

[scobienz]

With respect v12 most of the vaccines that have been developed by Pfizer, moderna, AZ and J&J work exactly that way.

14m of the top four groups comprising 15m of the most at risk people such as those over 70 and chronically vulnerable have been vaccinated as of yesterday.

I just don’t understand the point of using a vaccine to inoculate those who suffer minimal damage from Covid, and ignore those at risk. It’s as usual as a chocolate oven.

[v12]

With respect v12 most of the vaccines that have been developed by Pfizer, moderna, AZ and J&J work exactly that way.

Actually, Pfizer and Moderna are mRna type vaccines, which type turns out to be pretty effective, though quite difficult to handle (hefty frozen storage). I would not be surprised, when there is no -70 degrees Celsius storage available in Cambodia, so this rules out Pfizer and somewhat Moderna. mRNA is simply too unstable to use in Cambodia (and Pfizer is also roughly 5 times more expensive than AZ).

AZ and J&J (and the Russia&China vaccines) are vector vaccines and this type seems to be somewhat less effective, with the disputed effectiveness for the older ones, though much easier to store and distribute. And the pricing for the same amount of money, you can vaccinate 5 times more people with AZ than with Pfizer.

......

I just don’t understand the point of using a vaccine to inoculate those who suffer minimal damage from Covid, and ignore those at risk. It’s as usual as a chocolate oven.

I do, several reasons: The storage temperature, hardly any elderly clusters in Cambodia and pricing.

Western countries do have these clusters, pricing is less of an issue and there you see the prio order to be: Vulnerable, carers, semi-vulnerable (obese, sick and 60+) and then more to "all".

And, let us not forget, in Cambodia, there is a significant handling difference between have money and no money, reflecting the prio, with the result you see.