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Moderna seeks vaccine approval for adolescents

child vaccination
Only the Pfizer vaccine is currently approved for over 12s in Switzerland. © Keystone / Alessandro Della Valle

US-based biotech company Moderna is applying for the use of its Covid-19 vaccine for adolescents aged 12 to 17 in Switzerland, it said on Friday.

Its vaccine is currently approved only for people aged 18 and over. So far, only Pfizer/BioNTech has been authorised by approvals authority Swissmedic to administer the vaccine to people over 12.

Swissmedic, the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products, said in a statement also on Friday that it is analysing the data submitted to it, including a large ongoing clinical trial being conducted on young people aged 12 and over.

The institute will decide on the Moderna application as soon as it has sufficient evidence of the safety, efficacy and quality of this vaccine against Covid-19 in this age group.

The vaccination rollout in Switzerland has accelerated, reaching between 60,000-90,000 jabs a day. Over 5.8 million Covid-19 doses were administered between late December and June 9. Over 25% of the population are fully vaccinated.

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SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR