Europe Analyzes Use of Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine for Teens

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is considering authorizing the BioNTech % Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for use in people between 12 and 15 years of age.

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"We're going to see if we can accelerate it by the end of May," EMA Director Emer Cooke said upon receiving the vaccine information from the drugmakers on April 30.

A few weeks ago, BioNTech and Pfizer announced that tests of the vaccines in young people carried out in the United States had registered 100 percent effectiveness.

The European testing process of the COVID-19 vaccines for adolescents, however, is somewhat behind the United States, a country that authorized the use of this vaccine on Monday.

Germany's Health Minister Jens Spahn said his country expects to vaccinate the population aged 12 to 18 by the end of the summer vacations. Some 10 million doses would be needed to complete immunization in this age group.

In this European country, sub-national governments will start designing vaccination campaigns that could even include the possibility of immunizing students in their high schools.

BioNTech and Pfizer are currently testing their COVID-19 vaccine in children between six months and eleven years of age. They expect to have reliable results by September.