SAN JOSE - Costa Rica's government added 1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to its existing 3 million-dose contract with U.S. drugmaker Pfizer, the president's office said on Monday, in a bid to secure more supplies of lifesaving inoculations.
Pfizer has partnered with Germany's BioNTech for the vaccines.
The additional vaccine doses bring the Central American country's total to 7 million, including already contracted supplies stemming from deals with AstraZeneca as well as the World Health Organization-backed COVAX program.
The total number of doses would allow vaccination of 3.5 million Costa Ricans, or about 70% of the population.
Since the pandemic began last year, the Costa Rican health ministry has disclosed some 209,000 confirmed cases along with more than 2,800 deaths attributable to the highly contagious disease caused by the virus.
