Washington: Moderna on Tuesday announced that various studies have shown its COVID-19 vaccine was 100 per cent effective at preventing infection in adolescents aged 12 to 17 and it planned on submitting the findings to global regulators in days.
“We are encouraged that mRNA-1273 was highly effective at preventing COVID-19 in adolescents. It is particularly exciting to see that the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine can prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection,” Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said in the announcement, reported The Hill.
“We will submit these results to the US FDA and regulators globally in early June and request authorisation. We remain committed to doing our part to help end the COVID-19 pandemic,” she added.
At least 3,732 participants aged between 12 and 17 were involved in the studies, the company said, adding that no cases of COVID-19 were observed in any of the vaccinated participants and “no significant safety concerns” were identified.
Moderna further said that the vaccine was shown to be 93 per cent effective two weeks after the first dose was administered and 100 per cent effective after the second dose, The Hill reported.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday listed the Moderna coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, adding another shot to its arsenal in the fight against the coronavirus and is expected to authorise it for adolescents as well.
Although some health experts have said that herd immunity is unlikely to be achieved due to rising COVID-19 variants, immunising children against the virus will go a long way in raising the overall immunity of the country, as per The Hill.
Earlier this month, an advisory panel of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday (local time) recommended the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children aged between 12 and 15.
The 14-0 vote, with one recusal from the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices, was part of the final process before the shot becomes widely available to the younger population.
This comes after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorised the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to children in the age group of 12-15 years.