STA, 12 May 2021 - The Health Ministry and the National Institute for Public Health (NIJZ) told the STA on Wednesday that the vaccination of children and adolescents in Slovenia would start when the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gives its approval.
"We are currently waiting for the EMA's opinion on whether the vaccine is suitable for the age group of over 12 years. Once this is approved, we will start to promote vaccination in primary and secondary schools as well," said Mateja Logar, head of the ministry's advisory group on Covid-19.
On Monday, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the emergency use of Pfizer and BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine for teenagers aged 12 to 15 years. This is the first vaccine in the US to be licensed for this age group.
EMA executive director Emer Cooke told several European newspapers on Tuesday that Pfizer's vaccine could be approved for the 12-15 age group in the EU later this month, although initially this was expected by June. She said that they were still waiting for data from a clinical study carried out in Canada.
