The United Kingdom on Friday approved Pfizer's anti-covid vaccine for use in children aged between 12 to 15 years. After a rigorous review, Britain’s medicines said the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is safe for adolescents.
Britain’s medicine regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has authorized the two-shot jab following clinical trials and said, “the vaccine had met the expected standards of safety, quality and effectiveness."
“We have carefully reviewed clinical trial data in children aged 12 to 15 years and have concluded that the Pfizer/BioNTech covid19 vaccine is safe and effective in this age group and that the benefits of this vaccine outweigh any risk,” Chief executive of the MHRA, June Raine said.
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“We have in place a comprehensive safety surveillance strategy for monitoring the safety of all UK-approved Covid 19 vaccines. This surveillance will include the 12 to 15 year age group,” Raine added.
“No extension to an authorization would be approved unless the expected standards of safety, quality and effectiveness have been added,” she further said.
However, it is yet not decided if and when the age group will be administered by the vaccine. A government committee on vaccination is to make the decision soon.
Meanwhile, the United States has started administering the vaccine jab to adolescents. EU members are also to administer the vaccine to adolescents this month.