By Elida Moreno
PANAMA CITY (Reuters) – Panama is purchasing 3 million additional doses of the Pfizer Inc (PFE.N)/BioNTech SE vaccine against COVID-19 for its inoculation efforts next year, the government said on Thursday.
The $45 million order will bring the total number of Pfizer/Biontech vaccines bought by Central American country to 10 million.
Panama plans to offer booster doses to vulnerable segments of its population, including health workers, people who are immune-compromised, or older than 55 years.
A country of some 4.2 million people, Panama also has vaccine tourism plans.
Officialy registered infections since the pandemic began stood at 468,545 including 7,259 deaths, health ministry figures showed.
(Reporting by Elida Moreno in Panama City; Writing by Stefanie Eschenbacher; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)