Pfizer jab is ‘100% effective’ among children

The Pfizer Covid-19 jab is “100% effective and well tolerated” among children aged 12 to 15, a new study suggests.

Pfizer said it now plans to seek approval for use of the vaccine in this age group from regulators around the world and hopes youngsters will start to receive the jab before the next school year.

Researchers examined the use of the Pfizer/biontech vaccine in a trial of 2,260 teenagers in the US.

Half were given the jab and the other half were given a placebo drug.

There were no Covid19 cases seen in the group who received the vaccine and 18 infections among those who did not.

Albert Bourla, chief executive of Pfizer, said: “We share the urgency to expand the authorisation of our vaccine to use in younger populations and are encouraged by the clinical trial data from adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15.

“We plan to submit these data to FDA (the US Food and Drug Administration) as a proposed amendment to our emergency use authorisation in the coming weeks and to other regulators around the world, with the hope of starting to vaccinate this age group before the start of the next school year.”

Ugur Sahin, chief executive and cofounder of Biontech, added: “We are longing for a normal life. This is especially true for our children.

“The initial results we have seen in the adolescent studies suggest that children are particularly well protected by vaccination, which is very encouraging.

“It is very important to enable them to get back to everyday school life and to meet friends and family.”