Panama City, December 16: Panama's government has approved the emergency use of the vaccine produced by US company Pfizer and German company BioNTech, the delivery of the first batch is expected in the first quarter of 2021, the country's Health Ministry said.

"The national government has approved the emergency use of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine," the ministry said in a statement on Twitter.

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Panama expects to receive the first shipment of vaccines in the first quarter of next year and to begin immunizing the population, starting with healthcare workers, the elderly, and security personnel.

According to the ministry, the country with a population of 4.2 million people has registered 194,619 cases of Covid-19 since the beginning of the epidemic, including 3,382 deaths.

(The above story is verified and authored by ANI staff, ANI is South Asia's leading multimedia news agency with over 100 bureaus in India, South Asia and across the globe. ANI brings the latest news on Politics and Current Affairs in India & around the World, Sports, Health, Fitness, Entertainment, & News. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)