Pfizer said Wednesday its Covid-19 vaccine was 100% effective in a study of adolescents ages 12 to 15, encouraging results that could clear the shots for use in middle school students before school starts this fall.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said the company plans to submit the new data on the vaccine, which is developed in partnership with German drugmaker BioNTech, to the Food and Drug Administration and other regulators “as soon as possible,” with the hope that kids in the age group will be able to get vaccinated before the next school year.
“We share the urgency to expand the authorization of our vaccine to use in younger populations and are encouraged by the clinical trial data from adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15,” Bourla said in a press release.
The trial enrolled 2,260 participants in the United States. There were 18 confirmed Covid-19 infections observed in the placebo group and no confirmed infections in the group that received the vaccine, the company said. That resulted in a vaccine efficacy of 100%, it said, adding that the shot was also well-tolerated, with side effects generally consistent with those seen in adults.
