Canada is authorizing the use of Pfizer Inc’s (PFE.N) COVID-19 vaccine for use in children aged 12 to 15, the first doses to be allowed in the country for people that young, the federal health ministry said on Wednesday. Supriya Sharma, a senior adviser at the Canadian federal health ministry, said the Pfizer vaccine, produced with German partner BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE), was safe and effective in the younger age group.
“We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” she told reporters. Sharma and a health ministry spokesman said Canada was the first country to grant such an approval, but a Canadian representative for Pfizer later said Algeria permitted use of the vaccine for this age group in April. The Canadian health ministry said it had no information about the discrepancy. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to take a similar step “very soon,” U.S. health officials said. read more Separately, authorities reported the third death of a Canadian from a rare blood clot condition after receiving AstraZeneca PLC’s (AZN.L)‘s COVID-19 vaccine. The man, who was in his sixties, lived in the Atlantic province of New Brunswick.
Pfizer, Moderna Vaccines Cut COVID Hospitalizations by 94% in Older Adults, CDC Finds
New data shows that the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are capable of reducing coronavirus-related hospitalizations in fully vaccinated adults 65 years and older by 94% compared to unvaccinated adults of the same age. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released Wednesday also found that adults 65 and older who are partially vaccinated — meaning two weeks have passed since their first dose — are 64% less likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19.These are the first real-world findings outside of laboratory settings that confirm what initial clinical trials revealed about COVID-19 vaccines’ ability to prevent serious illness.
New data shows that the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are capable of reducing coronavirus-related hospitalizations in fully vaccinated adults 65 years and older by 94% compared to unvaccinated adults of the same age.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released Wednesday also found that adults 65 and older who are partially vaccinated — meaning two weeks have passed since their first dose — are 64% less likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19.These are the first real-world findings outside of laboratory settings that confirm what initial clinical trials revealed about COVID-19 vaccines’ ability to prevent serious illness.