Peru Receives 50,000 Doses Of Pfizer-Biontech Vaccine

Peru received its first shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine containing 50,000 doses, local media reported Thursday.

Attending a ceremony to mark the arrival of the vaccine, Peruvian Health Minister Oscar Ugarte said they reached an agreement with Pfizer to purchase 20 million doses, adding they expect to receive a shipment every week.

Ugarte said the vaccinations will be administered especially to health care workers, the elderly, the armed forces, police, fire brigades and cleaning personnel.

The Peruvian government has also reached agreements to purchase the AstraZeneca vaccine and vaccines under the COVAX facility.

The country of more than 33 million inhabitants has so far recorded over 1.3 million COVID-19 cases, more than 1.2 million recoveries and 47,089 deaths.

*Writing by Seda Sevencan -