The Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine has been approved for children in the UK aged 12 to 15.
The announcement came from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) after safety testing on the vaccine.
So far, the vaccine has only been licensed for adults.
MHRA chief executive June Raine said:
“We have carefully reviewed clinical trial data in children aged 12 to 15 years and have concluded that the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine is safe and effective in this age group and that the benefits of this vaccine outweigh any risk.”
More than 2,000 children were involved in the UK’s clinical trial, the.
Professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed, chairman of the Commission on Human Medicines said:
“We have concluded that based on the data we have seen on the quality, effectiveness and safety of the vaccine, its benefits do outweigh any risk.
“The MHRA will continue to scrutinise all of the suspected side effects data received through the rigorous surveillance programme in place through the Yellow Card scheme and other safety surveillance measures for all of the Covid-19 vaccines used in the UK.”
