Coronavirus – the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control’s public health considerations for COVID-19 vaccination of adolescents
Today, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) adopted a technical report on COVID-19 vaccination of adolescents. The report presents a set of key elements to take into account when considering the vaccination of adolescents against COVID-19. Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides said: ”Science has always been the guiding principle for our joint EU Vaccines Strategy and the rollout of vaccination campaigns, and the advice and expertise of EU Agencies have played an important role for our work. Following the positive assessment by EMA, ECDC is now following up with practical evidence based considerations to support Member States who are considering expanding national vaccination programmes also to adolescents. But beyond the decisions of governments, this is ultimately a decision to be made by parents for and with their children.” The report underlines that such vaccination should be considered in the broader context of the COVID-19 vaccination strategy for the whole population, including its overarching goals, the status of implementation and its priorities. According to the report, the vaccination of adolescents at high risk of severe COIVD-19 should be considered a priority, as with other age groups. As the design and implementation of vaccination strategies is a national responsibility, the report provides Member States considering to open vaccination to adolescents with public health considerations to support decisions on the administration of COVID-19 vaccines to this population. This report follows the positive opinion of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on the use of the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccines for 12-15 year olds, and the Commission’s adoption of an amended conditional market authorisation, reflecting EMA’s positive opinion. Member States are therefore now in a position to start using the vaccine for 12-15 year olds should they decide to do so.
