Children over 12 are already receiving the vaccine in Germany. Photo: DW
Germany will start offering coronavirus vaccinations for all children and teenagers aged 12 and older, top health officials said Monday.
German Health Minister Jens Spahn said after a meeting with the 16 German state health ministers in Berlin.
He said that a vaccine for children under 12 will likely be available from the first quarter of 2022 and also expects approval for a vaccine for youth to go through by the beginning of next year.
“I am assuming that the approval for a vaccine for children under 12 years of age will come in the first quarter of 2022,” Spahn told Funke media group. “Then we could protect the younger ones even better.”
Spahn noted that “A recommendation from the Standing Committee on Vaccination [STIKO] will also come a little later in this case.”
According to him, BioNTech, for example, announced a few days ago that it would apply for approval of its coronavirus vaccine for children between the ages of five and eleven in the coming weeks.
However, the European Medicines Agency, another medical regulator, said that it was unable to give a firm timeframe for a possible approval.