BioNTech-Pfizer announced on Wednesday that their coronavirus vaccine was 100 percent effective in 12 to 15-year-olds, paving the way for teens to get the vaccine by the start of the next school year.
The companies said in a statement that phase 3 trials on 2,260 teenagers in the United States “demonstrated 100 percent effectiveness and strong antibody responses.”
“We plan to submit these data to (US regulator) FDA as a proposed amendment to our Emergency Use Authorisation in the coming weeks and to other regulators around the world, with the hope of starting to vaccinate this age group before the start of the next school year,” said Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla.
The findings showing strong security for adolescents were “very promising considering the developments we’ve seen in recent weeks about the dissemination of the B.1.1.7 UK version,” according to BioNTech’s CEO.
The BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine was the first Covid-19 vaccine to be accepted in the West late last year, and it is built on novel mRNA technology.
It is legal in the United States and the European Union for citizens aged 16 and up to use it.
It has been used by millions of adults in over 65 countries since then.
It was found to be 94 percent successful in a real-world analysis affecting 1.2 million people in Israel.
BioNTech said Tuesday that it was on target to deliver 2.5 billion doses of its vaccine this year, as the world rushed to inoculate.
The increased output was due to the recent opening of a new production site in Marburg, Germany, which is now one of the world’s largest mRNA vaccine manufacturing plants, according to the company.
The vaccine is now manufactured at three Pfizer facilities in the United States and one in Belgium.
Improved quality and new collaboration arrangements with outside suppliers, as well as a regulatory nod encouraging vaccinators to collect six instead of five doses from a single BioNTech/Pfizer vial, helped BioNTech meet its vaccine target.
