The Minister for Health has confirmed that those aged between 12 and 15 years will be offered an mRNA vaccine to protect them from Covid-19.

Both the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have already been approved by the European Medicines Agency for use in young people aged 12-15. During clinical trials, the efficacy of both vaccines was estimated to be 100% in these younger age groups.

The HSE’s registration portal for 16 and 17 year-olds recently opened. However, the decision to extend access to 12-15 year-olds was made based on advice received by the chief medical officer from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee.

“We are continuing to see an increase in cases of Covid-19 among our young people and vaccination, along with continued adherence to the public health advice, remains the best protection we can offer in terms of reducing the risk of severe disease, maintaining access to educational opportunities and the range of social activities that we are all so conscious this age group in particular have lost due to this pandemic,” commented Minister Stephen Donnelly.

He said that support will be made available to parents and young people “to help them make the best decision”.

“The outstanding progress our Covid-19 vaccination programme is making continues. To date, we have administered 5.55 million doses. This has resulted in a marked reduction in levels of severe disease and hospitalisation and enabled us to continue with the safe re-opening of Irish society,” Minister Donnelly added.