New Zealand regulator approves Pfizer vaccine for 12-15 year olds

New Zealand’s medicines regulator Medsafe has provisionally approved the use of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Monday.

“After careful consideration of the most up-to-date scientific and medical data available, Medsafe has announced provisional approval for our young people to be given the Pfizer vaccine,” Ardern said in a statement.

There are around 265,000 children in the 12-15 age bracket in New Zealand, she said.

What are the ingredients in the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine?

The ingredients are mRNA, lipids ((4-hydroxybutyl)azanediyl)bis(hexane-6,1-diyl)bis(2-hexyldecanoate), 2 [(polyethylene glycol)-2000]-N,N-ditetradecylacetamide, 1,2-Distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, and cholesterol), potassium chloride, monobasic potassium phosphate, sodium chloride, dibasic sodium phosphate dihydrate, and sucrose.1

How does an mRNA vaccine work?

mRNA, delivered to your body’s cells by lipid nanoparticles, instructs the cells to generate the spike protein found on the surface of the novel coronavirus that initiates infection.1,2 Instructing cells to generate the spike protein spurs an immune response, including generation of antibodies specific to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.3

mRNA vaccines do not contain any virus particles, meaning that they don’t contain weakened or dead parts of a virus or bacterium.2

Do mRNA vaccines change a person’s DNA?

mRNA is a transient carrier of information that does not integrate into human DNA.2,4 mRNA does not enter a cell’s nucleus, which is where our DNA is kept.