On May 5th, Health Canada authorized the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children ages 12 to 15.
Until December 9th, they had only approved the Pfizer vaccine in Canada for people 16 years of age and older. With this latest authorization, many provinces are moving into the next phase of their vaccine rollouts to include younger age groups.
Health Canada released their statement on Wednesday confirming that they finished their review. They concluded that the Pfizer vaccine is “safe and effective at preventing Covid-19” for children between 12 and 15 years old. But they will be keep monitoring the situation, requiring Pfizer to provide information on the vaccine effects consistently.
Health Canada has approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for those 12 and up. It's a shot of hope for children and parents, and some provinces will start giving out doses in the coming days and weeks. | CBC News https://t.co/T6GNcTeEhX pic.twitter.com/g0ciiPjnNm
— CBC Kamloops (@CBCKamloops) May 7, 2021
This comes after Pfizer-BioNTech released the results of their Phase 3 clinical trial in adolescents between 12 and 15. The trial involved 2260 participants within this age group in the U.S. As a result, they found the vaccine “demonstrated 100% efficacy and robust antibody responses”.
By May 30, the Government of Canada expects to have delivered nearly 25 million doses of #Covid19 vaccines to provinces and territories. More info: https://t.co/7QVIKBbzTD
#TeamCanada pic.twitter.com/WhzhD8JMCx— Health Canada and PHAC (@GovCanHealth) May 6, 2021
As of May 5th, more than 14.5 million vaccine doses have been administered, according to Health Canada.
[Featured Image Source: Steven Cornfield via Unsplash]