Singapore green-lights Pfizer jab for teens aged 12-15

Singapore today said it had authorised the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for teenagers aged 12 to 15 years.

Speaking at a virtual press conference, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung who co-chairs the city-state’s multi-ministry task force on Covid-19 said the expert comittee on vaccines for the virus had taken into consideration the safety, efficacy and tolerability of the jab as well as the study design of clinical trials for this age group.

He said the Health Sciences Authority had also given the green light for those in this age group to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech jab.

“Both teams have assessed that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine demonstrated high efficacy and safety for this age group,” he said.

He also said the next age band of those aged 40 to 44 would be able to register for vaccination from May 19 onwards.

Singapore had administered more than 3.4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine as of May 17.

Close to two million people have received at least the first dose of vaccine, with over 1.4 million fully vaccinated with both doses.

Yesterday, Singapore announced that it would close all schools from Wednesday, warning of new virus strains affecting more children in the city-state.

The island republic has experienced a relatively mild outbreak of Covid-19 with more than 61,000 cases reported among its population of 5.7 million and 31 deaths as of yesterday.