Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine approved for 12- to 15-year-olds in UK

London/Bhubaneswar: The United Kingdom on Friday approved the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech for use on 12- to 15-year-olds, Britain’s medicine regulator said.

The UK’s move follows similar clearances in the European Union and the United States.

12- to 15-year-olds are already under the vaccination drive in the United States while Germany and France will most likely follow suit later this month,

Despite the clearance from the medicine regulator, it will be up to the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to go ahead with the plan or not.

The Health and Social Care department in the UK would come up with an update once the JCVI confirms its decision.

June Raine, chief executive of the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, issued a statement saying that the agency has meticulously reviewed the clinical trial data in children in the 12-15 agegroup.

“(We) 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,” she said.

Meanwhile, the B.1.6172 Covid-19 variant, also known as Delta, has become the “dominant” strain in the UK, as per the Public Health England (PHE).

The number of cases of the variant has increased by more than 5,000 since last week to 12,431