Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 12 to 15 set to be approved across Europe this month

The current Pfizer vaccine is only approved for children over 16.

A Covid-19 vaccine for children aged between 12 to 15 could be available across Europe in the coming weeks.

The Pfizer BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine looks set to be approved for that age group by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) at the end of this month or in June.

Emer Cooke, director of the EMA, said that they are currently looking at approval for the vaccine, which could come as early as this month.

“Right now, the goal we have set ourselves is approval in June,” Cooke told reporters on Tuesday.

“We are trying to see if we can accelerate that for the end of May.”

The EU has advanced purchase agreements with Pfizer, allowing Ireland to secure six or seven million doses of the jab, which could mean that children would receive the vaccine before the next school year.

The current Pfizer BioNTech vaccine is only approved for people aged 16 and older, however, it has been approved for children in the 12 to 15 age group in a number of other countries, such as Canada and the United States.

If the EMA approves the vaccine, the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) would examine the data to make a decision on the use of the vaccine across Ireland.

The Food and Drug Administration in the United States decided to allow the vaccine to be administered to people aged 12 and up on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, last week, Canada became the first country to approve the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children age 12 and over.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Tony Holohan said on Monday that Ireland will look at the “potential value” for giving the Covid-19 vaccine to children after adults have been successfully vaccinated across the country.

Speaking to RTE News, he said that a number of vaccine companies are currently extending their license applications to children.

He added that Ireland will explore the possibility of giving the jab to children once the adult population has received their vaccines.

“We do know that some of the vaccine companies are extending their license applications to cover children,” he said.

“We will be looking at that question about the potential value for us in moving on and when we get to the point that it is appropriate, bringing children into the vaccination programme, if we think that is the right thing to do.”

Pfizer is also currently working on a vaccine for younger children as Moderna is trialling its vaccine in children from six months to 12 years of age.

AstraZeneca also began testing its vaccine for children six months and older as of last month.