The British drug regulator has approved the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for 12 to 15 year olds.
The Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said the decision followed a “rigorous review” of safety and effectiveness in this age group – and that the benefits of having the COVID jab outweighed the risks.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) will now advise whether routine immunization should be offered to people aged 12 to 17.
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Commenting on the development on Friday, Matt Hancock confirmed that the UK has “sufficient supply” to offer the jab to older children if JCVI deems it “the clinically advised thing to do.”
The Health Secretary said: “I welcome the decision of the independent regulator that the vaccine is safe and effective for children from 12 years of age.
“We will take clinical advice from the Joint Committee on Immunization and Immunization on how this should be implemented, and then we will follow that clinical advice.
“We have enough supplies to be able to immunize children if that is the clinically advised course of action.
“We now have an approved vaccine for children 12 and over, but I want to make sure everything is done following clinical advice, to make sure we get this country out of this pandemic in the safest way possible. . “
Dr June Raine, Managing Director of the MHRA, said: “We have put in place a comprehensive safety oversight strategy to monitor the safety of all approved devices in the UK. COVID-19[female[feminine vaccines and this surveillance will include the 12 to 15 year age group.
Matt Hancock has confirmed that the UK has a ‘sufficient supply’ to offer the jab to older children if JCVI advises it
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Source: news.sky.com
This notice was published: 2021-06-04 15:04:00
