Frankfurt:
BioNTech stated Thursday that it anticipated its Covid-19 vaccine, jointly created with Pfizer, to be offered to 12 to 15-year-olds in Europe from June.
The German firm’s CEO Ugur Sahin told Der Spiegel weekly that it was “in the final stretches” of preparing its submission for European regulatory approval.
The evaluation of the trial information “takes four to six weeks on average”, he added.
Vaccinating children is seen as a important next step toward herd immunity and ending the pandemic.
The prospect of receiving older children inoculated just before the next college year begins would also relieve the strain on parents who are juggling the demands of homeschooling when maintaining up with jobs.
“It’s very important to enable children a return to their normal school lives and allow them to meet with family and friends,” Sahin told Spiegel.
BioNTech/Pfizer currently applied for emergency US authorisation of their jab for 12 to 15-year-olds earlier this month.
Sahin expects to submit a equivalent request to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) next Wednesday, he told Spiegel.
The move comes just after BioNTech and Pfizer in late March announced that phase 3 clinical trials of their vaccine for children aged 12-15 showed it was one hundred % helpful in warding off the illness.
Both organizations are also racing to get the jab authorized for younger children, from six months upwards.
“In July, the first results for five to 12-year-olds could be available, and those for younger children in September,” he stated.
Ongoing trials so far are “very encouraging”, Sahin stated, suggesting that “children are very well protected by the vaccine”.
The BioNTech/Pfizer shot is based on novel mRNA technologies and was the 1st Covid-19 jab to be authorized in the West late last year.
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