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Moderna seeks Health Canada approval for kids as young as 12 to receive its vaccine

It could be the second vaccine for COVID approved in teenagers
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FILE – A vial containing the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is shown at a vaccination site in Marcq en Baroeul, outside Lille, northern France, Saturday, March 20, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Michel Spingler

Moderna is asking Health Canada to approve the use of its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine in children as young as 12.

The American pharmaceutical company filed an application Monday (June 7) morning.

We are encouraged that the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine was highly effective at preventing COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 infection in adolescents,” said CEO Stéphane Bancel.

In a press release, Moderna said that Phase 2/3 of its study in teenagers found that no cases of COVID-19 were seen in participants who received two doses of its vaccine. From that study, Moderna said its vaccine efficacy in the nearly 2500-teenager trial was 100 per cent when using the same case definitions as in the Phase 3 adult trial.

Using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention case definition, which tested for milder disease, the efficacy was found to be 93 per cent starting 14 days after the first dose.

The study enrolled 3,732 participants between the ages of 12 and 17 in the U.S.


@katslepian

katya.slepian@bpdigital.ca

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