Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced Tuesday that it has approved the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, known as Spikevax, for use in teenagers aged 12 to 17.
The approval followed a similar green light given on August 4 by Britain’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) for the Pfizer BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for 16- and 17-year-olds.
Both approvals came in time to vaccinate the teens ahead of the reopening of classes at the start of the new school year, in September.
The MHRA confirmed the Moderna vaccine is “safe and effective” in the 12- to 17-age group, Reuters reported.
European regulators had already approved the use of Moderna’s vaccine in adolescents last month. The vaccine is also approved by the UK regulator for use in adults ages 18 and up.
More than 130,000 people in Britain have died because of the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic. At present, the extremely contagious Delta variant of the virus is the dominant strain worldwide.