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Pfizer announced that its COVID-19 vaccine provides long-term protection against the virus in adolescents. The drugmaker said that top-line results from a long-term analysis showed that the vaccine was 100% effective against COVID-19 over four months after the second 30 micrograms dose.
The study tracked over 2,200 people who were given either the vaccine or a placebo. Pfizer said that while there were 30 cases of COVID-19 in the placebo group, nobody who received the vaccine tested positive. The vaccine's efficacy remained strong across gender, race and ethnicity demographics, obesity, and comorbidity status.
Pfizer said it will include the data as it seeks full approval for its vaccine in children over 12 from the Food and Drug Administration. Currently, the vaccine is being disturbed to adolescents under an emergency use authorization. The vaccine has been fully approved for anybody over the age of 16.
"As the global health community works to increase the number of vaccinated people around the world, these additional data provide further confidence in our vaccine's safety and effectiveness profile in adolescents. This is especially important as we see rates of COVID-19 climbing in this age group in some regions, while vaccine uptake has slowed," said Albert Bourla, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Pfizer. "We look forward to sharing these data with the FDA and other regulators."