Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine in 12-15 year olds remains "100%" effective more than four months after the second injection, the company said on Monday, updated data that must support an upcoming full authorization request of the remedy for this age group.
The vaccine from the Pfizer-BioNTech alliance has currently been granted emergency use authorization for adolescents, since May in the United States.
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The companies on Monday released updated information from their clinical trial involving more than 2,200 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15. The participants have now been followed for at least four months after the second injection: 30 cases of Covid-19 have been recorded among adolescents who received the placebo, against no cases in the group who received the vaccine. Either 100% effectiveness against symptomatic cases of the disease. This data was collected between November 2020 and September 2021, Pfizer said in its press release. In addition, "no serious safety concerns have been observed in individuals with at least six months of follow-up," added the pharmaceutical giant.
The messenger RNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna have been linked to an increased risk of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, especially in young adolescent males.
But these cases remain very rare and the benefits of vaccination continue to outweigh this risk, according to all experts.
"These additional data provide additional confidence in the efficacy and safety profile of our vaccine in adolescents," said Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, quoted in the statement.
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These results should provide the basis for the full authorization request for the vaccine "in the United States and around the world," according to the company, which does not give a timeline.
Pfizer's vaccine had been fully authorized in the United States for people 16 years of age and older in August.
