THE HAGUE (REUTERS) - Europe's medicines regulator on Friday (July 23) recommended approving the use of Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine in 12 to 17 year olds, paving the way for it to become the second shot okayed for adolescent use in the European Union.

       The use of the vaccine, branded Spikevax, will be the same in children from 12 to 17 years as in people aged 18 and above, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said, adding the vaccine produced a comparable antibody response to that seen in 18 to 25 year olds.

       Vaccinating children has been considered important for reaching herd immunity against the coronavirus and in the light of the highly contagious Delta variant.

       Moderna in May said its vaccine was found to be safe and effective in teens.

       EMA’s safety committee said while common side effects in teenagers after vaccination were similar to those seen in older population, due to a smaller study size, the trial could not detect new uncommon side effects or estimate the risk of known ones such as myocarditis and pericarditis.

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