Pfizer says its COVID-19 vaccine is 100% effective in younger teens
The company will send its new findings to the FDA.
- She has a master's degree in journalism from Syracuse University.
Pfizer has new numbers on vaccine efficacy for teens.
Pfizer's vaccine against COVID-19 shows 100% efficacy and "robust antibody responses" in younger teens, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. In a Phase 3 trial with 2,260 teenagers ages 12-15, the company found the vaccine's efficacy was higher than for people ages 16-25.
"We share the urgency to expand the authorization of our vaccine to use in younger populations and are encouraged by the clinical trial data from adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15," said Albert Bourla, Pfizer's chairman and CEO.
The two-shot vaccine, which was developed with German partner BioNTech, is already being administered to adults in the US. Bourla said Pfizer will submit its latest data to the US Food and Drug Administration within the coming weeks as an amendment to its emergency use authorization.
According to the CDC's vaccination tracker, more than 96 million people in the US have received at least one vaccine dose. President Joe Biden revised his vaccine goal last week and now wants to reach 200 million shots by his first 100 days in office.
The findings come on the heels of an announcement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are 80% effective in real-world conditions at preventing COVID-19 infections two weeks after some gets the first dose.