Covid-19 Vaccine: UK Approves Moderna Shot For Children Aged 12 To 17 Years

The approval comes more than two months after Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine got regulatory nod for use in children aged 12 to 15, Reuters reported.

Vials of Moderna Covid vaccine | Image: Getty

New Delhi: Britain’s health regulator has approved Moderna Inc’s Covid-19 vaccine for use in the children aged 12 to 17 years.

The approval comes more than two months after Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine got regulatory nod for use in children aged 12 to 15, Reuters reported.

Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine is currently approved for the people over the age of 18 in the UK.

It was recommended for use in the adolescents by the European regulators earlier in July and is awaiting the US authorisation.

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Britain’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation had earlier on August 4 gave the go ahead for those aged 16 and 17 years to get their first dose of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine ahead of schools returning in September.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which will now make a decision on whether the vaccine will be deployed or not, had initially advised less than two weeks ago that only medically vulnerable children would be offered the vaccine while stating that it was taking a precautionary approach.

Moderna is also preparing to begin human trials on HIV vaccines, using the same mRNA platform as the firm's Covid-19 vaccine.

Moderna has two HIV vaccine candidates - mRNA-1644 and mRNA-1644v2-Core - both of which have cleared initial safety testing before being used on humans for the first time.