Pfizer plans to vaccinate some children in the US by start of next school year

Younger teenagers in the US could start receiving the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine from the start of the next school year, following results of a study.

Researchers examined the use of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in a trial of 2,260 teenagers in the US, and found that it is “100% effective and well tolerated” among children aged 12 to 15.

Albert Bourla, chief executive of Pfizer, has now confirmed that the company plans to seek emergency authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration “with the hope of starting to vaccinate this age group before the start of the next school year”.

Half of those who took part in the trial were given the Pfizer jab and the other half were given a placebo drug.

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

Ugur Sahin, chief executive and co-founder of BioNTech, said people are “longing for a normal life” and that “this is especially true for our children”.

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“It is very important to enable them to get back to everyday school life and to meet friends and family while protecting them and their loved ones.”

Pfizer said the jab “demonstrated 100% efficacy and robust antibody responses exceeding those reported in trial of vaccinated 16- to 25-year-old participants in an earlier analysis”.

The news comes after figures showed a slight rise in cases among youngsters after schools reopened in England earlier this month.

In its latest weekly surveillance report, published last week, Public Health England said the rate for 10- to 19-year-olds stood at 100.7 cases per 100,000 in the seven days to 21 March.

This was the highest rate across all age groups and was up week-on-week from 79.7.

Among five- to nine-year-olds, the case rate rose from 39.9 to 63.5 per 100,000. But for children aged four and under, the rate had fallen from 34.9 to 32.4.

Currently, only children at very high risk of severe infection are offered a jab.

Oxford University is carrying out a clinical trial on children aged six to 17 to test the safety and efficacy of its vaccine in younger age groups, with initial results expected in the summer.

But professor Adam Finn, of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, said on Wednesday that no final decisions have been made about vaccinating youngsters.

Yahoo News UK has contacted the Department of Health and Social Care for comment.