The Ministry of Health (MOH) has announced that the administration of the Pfizer BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine for children under the age of 12 will begin in 2022.
The MOH also said to date, only the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is available for use in children under 12 years of age. It is currently awaiting regulatory approval from the European Union and United States.
In a reply posted on the Parliament website on Thursday (11 Nov), the ministry explains that Pfizer is expected to submit data relating to the vaccine registration for use in children below 12 by the end of this year to the NPRA (National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency) for evaluation and approval.
“A total of 5.9 million children are expected to be inoculated against COVID-19 involving an estimated 11.8 million doses of vaccine,” said the ministry.
The ministry responded to a question from Wong Chen (PH-Subang) who inquired whether the ministry intends to vaccinate children aged 5 to 12 years against COVID-19 and its implementation period.
The MOH then replied the government is in the midst of procuring the Pfizer BioNtech vaccine for the group. This is because it has a different formulation than those used for the adult population, and thus subject to approvals from NPRA and the Drug Control Authority.
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