Report: No Side Effects as Hundreds of Teenagers Get Coronavirus Vaccine

Some 600 Israeli teenagers have received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 coronavirus, Dr. Boaz Lev, a senior Health Ministry advisor, told The Guardian on Wednesday.

The teens, aged between 16 and 18, were in the at-risk group, meaning they had underlying health issues that could have resulted in severe complications if contracting COVID-19.

The official said that no major side effects were spotted so far.

“We didn’t see any major side effects; even minor ones are quite rare. This is encouraging,” Dr. Lev said.

The official added that extra outreach efforts would be necessary from the authorities if the vaccines were approved for children.

The clinical trials of Pfizer’s vaccine did not produce enough data on its safety for children, and the company is currently conducting extra research on the matter.

In Israel, which has a deal with the company on sharing its medical data, vaccinations have been accessible for teenagers for weeks, given their parents approved the jab.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu earlier said the country was planning to start vaccinating children in near future, but did not reveal a specific timeline for that.