Medsafe approves Pfizer vaccine for 12-15 year olds

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed Medsafe’s provisional approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds.

“After careful consideration of the most up-to-date scientific and medical data available, Medsafe has announced provisional approval for our young people to be given the Pfizer vaccine,” Jacinda Ardern said.

“Medsafe’s approval has been a very carefully considered and robust process, with safety the key priority.

“There are around 265,000 children in the 12-15 age bracket and our existing Pfizer purchase order contains more than enough doses to cover two shots for this entire group.

“We don’t need to buy any more to cover them, and no one will miss out as a result of this decision.

”The Pfizer vaccine has already been approved for 12- to 15-year-olds in Canada, the USA, Europe, and Japan.

“The next step is for the Government to review advice from the Ministry of Health about the ‘decision to use’, and we expect to make a decision later this month. Until that decision is made, youth aged 12-15 won’t be given the vaccine.

“While COVID has not generally affected children as severely as it has adults, there have been cases internationally of children getting sick from the virus.

“In addition, children have been shown to transmit the virus, so being able to vaccinate them helps protect the wider community.

“Put simply - when our children are vaccinated, their teachers, friends, siblings, parents and grandparents are more protected from the virus too. So it’s in all of our interests for this group to get the vaccine,” Jacinda Ardern said

Note: Provisional consent means the pharmaceutical company must meet certain conditions, including supplying more data from its clinical trials around the world as they progress. This will happen at the same time as the vaccine is rolled out. Provisional approval is not uncommon, for instance the annual influenza vaccine is given provisional approval for the same reason.
.