By Marco Aquino
LIMA (Reuters) – Peru has approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for one year, according to a regulatory filing viewed by Reuters, amid a recent spike in coronavirus cases that has brought local hospitals to the brink of collapse.
The one-year registration makes the Pfizer vaccine, co-developed with German partner BioNTech, the second to be approved this year by health authorities in Peru.
Regulators last week authorized the “exceptional” import and use of one million doses of a vaccine produced by Chinese laboratory Sinopharm. That batch is due to arrive on Feb. 9.
The announcements come amid a second wave of contagions that last week led interim President Francisco Sagasti to announce a total lockdown of the capital Lima and nine other regions.
The General Directorate of Medicines, Supplies and Drugs (DIGEMID) said in a filing the registration of the Pfizer vaccine was temporary and expires on Jan. 29, 2022.
Foreign Minister Elizabeth Astete said last week the government was “very close” to sealing a deal with the Pfizer laboratory to purchase 9.9 million doses of its vaccine. The first 1.8 million would arrive in Peru during the first quarter, she said.
Peru has also locked in agreements with AstraZeneca and has said it is in advanced negotiations with Johnson & Johnson to acquire five million vaccines later this year.
(Reporting by Marco Aquino; Writing by Dave Sherwood; Editing by Chris Reese)
