New Zealand’s medicine authority Medsafe has approved COVID-19 vaccine Pfizer for the age group of 12-15 years. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern expects its approval from the cabinet in the following week. Once the cabinet grants approval, people in the said age group will be eligible for vaccination towards the end of the year.

Although children are at lower risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19 than older people, it is still essential to vaccinate them for two reasons:

First, if children catch the virus they can spread it to other people, including higher-risk groups or people who can not be vaccinated for medical reasons. 

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Second, although the risk of death is very small, children can still suffer significant long-term health complications as a result of COVID-19, often known as long COVID. This has been shown to affect a significant proportion of people, even in younger age groups, reported PTI.

Medsafe granted the approval after observing data showing that the vaccine is safe and effective for the mentioned age group. And similar moves were taken in Europe, the US and Canada, reported PTI. 

New Zealand has 265,000 children in the age group of 12-15 years, which is just over 5% of the country’s population. Currently, New Zealand has the approval for 85% of the population. Trials have been underway to evaluate if the vaccine is appropriate for children of the age group six to 11 years, reported PTI. 

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The government’s plan is to offer the vaccine to everybody by the end of 2021. Ardern said that the country’s pre-purchased orders of Pfizer will provide a sufficient amount of doses for the year including the 12-15-year-olds. reported PTI.