Britain’s medicines regulator has approved Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for adolescents aged 12 to 15 after a “rigorous review”.
UK: A milestone between the ongoing war with Covid-19 and predicting a third wave of the crippling virus, a British drug regulator has appointed a Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine for children aged 12 to 15 years after a “critical review”. Pfizer vaccine is already approved for use in people 16 years and older.
Dr June Raine, chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare product Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said the safety of the vaccine for children aged 12-15 would be closely monitored.
“We have carefully reviewed clinical trial data for children aged 12 to 15 years and concluded that the Pfizer / BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine is safe and effective for this age group and that the benefits of this vaccine outweigh any risks,” said June Raine. , as quoted by Reuters.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) are yet to decide whether this age group would come under the vaccine deployment programme.
Last month in May, the US approved a 2-dose vaccine for children aged 12 to 15 years. According to reports, the Food and Drug Administration approved Pfizer and BioNTech’s application and approved the use of the Covid-19 vaccine in children aged 12 to 15 years in emergencies.
In late March, the vaccine makers claimed that the dose of found to be 100 per cent effective in a clinical trial of more than 2,000 adolescents. Untill now, the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine was authorized for use in people 16 and older.
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