Pfizer says trial showed its COVID-19 vaccine was 100 percent effective in adolescents

The COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech was 100 percent effective in adolescents aged 12 to 15 in a phase 3 study, the companies announced.

Pfizer and BioNTech said Wednesday that the vaccine, which is currently in use in the United States for adults, demonstrated 100 percent efficacy in the trial. It also demonstrated "robust antibody responses, exceeding those recorded earlier in vaccinated participants aged 16 to 25 years old, and was well tolerated."

This study consisted of 2,260 adolescents in the United States between 12 and 15, and there were 18 cases of COVID-19 reported in the placebo group, but no cases in the group that was vaccinated.

"The initial results we have seen in the adolescent studies suggest that children are particularly well protected by vaccination, which is very encouraging given the trends we have seen in recent weeks regarding the spread of the B.1.1.7 UK variant," BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin said.

This was the latest piece of encouraging data surrounding the Pfizer vaccine after the CDC released a study showing both it and the Moderna vaccine were "highly effective" in real-world conditions, preventing about 90 percent of infections two weeks after both doses in adults.

Experts quickly hailed the trial results released Wednesday, with Yale University immunologist Akiko Iwasaki telling The New York Times, "Oh my god, I’m so happy to see this — this is amazing." Iwasaki added that the fact that the study showed the group "getting even better levels" of antibodies than young adults was "really incredible. Pfizer and BioNTech say they will submit this new data to the FDA with "the hope of starting to vaccinate this age group before the start of the next school year."

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