New Zealand’s medical regulator gives provisional approval for Pfizer to be given to 12- to 15-year-olds
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said New Zealand would enjoy wider protection with the vaccination of teenagers.(
NZ Herald: Alex Burton via AP)
The New Zealand medical regulator has given provisional approval for the Pfizer vaccine to be given to children aged between 12 and 15 years.
Key points:
- New Zealand’s Cabinet is yet to approve the rollout extension to the younger age group
- Jacinda Ardern said the country’s millionth vaccine dose would be administered in the next 24 hours
- Ms Ardern herself received her first dose on Friday
Medsafe, the New Zealand Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Authority, gave its approval late on Monday.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she was pleased to announce the decision, which expanded the vaccine eligibility to an additional 265,000 people.
“Our existing Pfizer purchase order contains more than enough doses to cover two vaccines for this entire group. We would not need to buy any more to cover them, and nor will anyone miss out as a result of the Medsafe advice,” Ms Arden said.
The move follows similar decisions to approve the vaccine for use in 12- to 15-year-olds by medical regulators in Canada, the US, Europe and Japan.
The next step, Ms Ardern said, was for the decision to go to Cabinet for approval.
It is expected the outcome of Cabinet discussions will be known by the end of June.
Over the course of the pandemic, New Zealand has seen more than 100 cases of COVID-19 in children, according to its Health Ministry.
Ms Ardern also announced New Zealand’s one-millionth vaccine dose would be administered in the coming days.
The most recent data from the ministry, dated one week ago, shows more than 324,000 New Zealanders are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with another 567,000 halfway there.
Ms Ardern described the vaccine rollout to teenagers as a step towards wider protection for the community
“While COVID has not generally affected children 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, as Medsafe has advised is safe to do so, will provide wider protection for the community,” she said.
Last Friday, Ms Ardern received her first Pfizer vaccine dose.
“I’m smiling under the mask,” Ms Ardern said as she sat down to receive the shot at a vaccination centre in Auckland.
“For me, I never wanted to be amongst the first. For me, we needed to get those front line workers.
“But I also need to be a role model and this demonstrates that it’s safe, that it’s effective and that it’s really important that everyone is vaccinated when they have their opportunity.”
