The Government’s drug buying agency Medsafe has announced provisional approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Medsafe’s approval has been a very carefully considered and robust process, with safety the key priority.

 “There are around 265,000 children in the 12-15 age bracket and our existing Pfizer purchase order contains more than enough doses to cover two shots for this entire group.”

 The Pfizer vaccine has been approved for 12- to 15-year-olds in Canada, the USA, Europe, and Japan.

 The Prime Minister said “the next step is for the Government to review advice from the Ministry of Health about the ‘decision to use’, and we expect to make a decision later this month. Until that decision is made, youth aged 12-15 won’t be given the vaccine.”

 “While COVID has not generally affected children as severely as it has adults, there have been cases internationally of children getting sick from the virus.”

 “In addition, children have been shown to transmit the virus, so being able to vaccinate them helps protect the wider community.”

 “Put simply – when our children are vaccinated, their teachers, friends, siblings, parents and grandparents are more protected from the virus too. So it’s in all of our interests for this group to get the vaccine,” Jacinda Ardern said.