Cambodia to allow selling of Covid vaccines – why it is not a game changer

Cambodia to allow selling of Covid vaccines via private clinics according to multiple receipts in Khmer that have been translated into English. According to the report the Ministry Health (MOH) will allow the importation of World Health Organization (WHO) approved vaccines that can then be sold for by private clinics.

It should noted that this would exclude Sputnik for example.

I am already vaccinated can I now leave Cambodia?

Many of us in Cambodia, local and Barang alike have already been vaccinated, in fact Cambodia is second only to Singapore in ASEAN with regards to vaccinations,, but when it comes to travel there are multiple catches, which have covered in another article.

To read the vaccination travel article click here .

In a nutshell Cambodia have largely vaccinated using Sinovac, which while it has WHO approval does not have European Union, or a whole heap of other approvals. In short it is not that useful for travel, at least yet anyway.

The other point at least for expats in Cambodia is that even if we are vaccinated we would currently still have to quarantine on return home to the Kingdom. And lastly? That flimsy piece of plastic written in felt will not pass most immigration posts, regardless of a posh QR code.

Selling of Covid Vaccines? There is a bigger problem

In short if you want to travel the globe relatively hassle free then you will need one of the vaccine big-guns, such as Pfizer, Moderna, AZ, or the king of the crop the one shop Johnson and Johnson.

Theoretically this means we could just go into a private Khmer clinic and just get a “good” vaccine right? Technically yes, but the reality is somewhat different. Demand with vaccines is far outweighing supply, with all of these mege-pharma corporations struggling to keep up with contractual demand.

In short this means that the likelihood of their being “spare” vaccines to sell to willing Khmer, or Barang in theory at least is extremely unlikely.  

Is it ethical to sell Covid vaccines?

Is it ethical to sell vaccines when most of the world are unvaccinated? I could answer this question, but I feel the world has already done so. America have so many vaccines that they are offering “shots for shots” and most of the world are struggling. There is also much debate over “vaccine nationalism”, but the reality was and always is that the world was never going to act altruistically on this.

To read about vaccine nationalism click here .

Cambodia have given more free vaccines than any other developing country, if they decide to sell vaccines privately they still have more moral high ground than other countries.

Whether your dollars will get you the vaccine you want though is by far another question. Regardless the selling of Covid vaccines is here/

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