Pfizer-BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine became the first vaccine authorized for European adolescents after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved the use of this product for 12-15 year olds on Friday. According to the EMA, there are "no major concerns" about possible side effects.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Friday approved the use of the anti-Covid Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine for 12-15 year olds, which becomes the first vaccine to be authorized for adolescents in the 27 countries of the Union European.

The vaccine is "well tolerated" by young people and there are "no major concerns" about possible side effects, Marco Cavaleri, head of vaccine strategy at the EMA.

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Already widely used in the United States and Canada on this age group

Germany announced on Thursday its intention to open the vaccination against Covid-19 to minors over 12 years old on June 7, subject to the authorization of the European regulator. The vaccine is already widely used for this age group in the United States and Canada. "As expected, the EMA Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use today approved the use of Pfizer / BioNTech's vaccine for adolescents 12 to 15 years old," the regulator said.

The Amsterdam-based EMA launched at the beginning of May an accelerated assessment of the data transmitted by vaccine developers for its authorization to 12-15 year olds, after the authorization request filed at the end of April by the American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and the laboratory. German BioNTech for this age group in the EU.

The two companies had based their request on data from a Phase 3 clinical study, published at the end of March, showing "100% effectiveness" of the vaccine in this age group, which was also "well tolerated in general" .

Rare cases of heart problems in young people vaccinated in the United States

Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that German teenagers will be able to request an appointment to be vaccinated from June 7, when the system giving priority to the elderly, the chronically ill or the professions most at risk ends.

US biotech company Moderna also announced this week that its vaccine, using the same RNA technology as Pfizer / BioNTec, was "highly effective" in adolescents aged 12 to 17, according to comprehensive clinical trial results.

The boss of Moderna Stéphane Bancel announced in the

Journal du dimanche

that his company would file "at the beginning of June" an application for marketing authorization in the European Union for its anti-Covid vaccine for 12-17 year olds.

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Very rare cases of heart problems in adolescents or young adults vaccinated were reported last week by US health authorities, without the link to the vaccination being established at this time. There have been reports of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, in people who have received a messenger RNA vaccine, noted the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), the country's main federal public health agency. .