• Login
  • Register
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result

“Safe and Effective”: MHRA Approves Moderna Covid Vaccine for Six to 11 Year-Olds and Valneva Vaccine

by Will Jones
14 April 2022 4:49 PM

The U.K. medicines regulator, the MHRA, has approved the Moderna Covid vaccine for six to 11 year olds, describing it as “safe and effective”.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has approved an update to the current U.K. approval of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine, or ‘Spikevax’, that allows its use in Great Britain (GB) in six to 11 year-olds.

This approval takes into account the extension to use in children aged six to 11 years already approved by the European Medicines Agency on March 2nd 2022, as the original GB licence for Spikevax in adults was approved by relying on the EU decision.

Spikevax is authorised in children aged six to 11 in Northern Ireland under the update granted by the European Medicines Agency on March 2nd.

Dr June Raine, MHRA Chief Executive, said:

I am pleased to confirm that that the COVID-19 vaccine made by Moderna, ‘Spikevax’, has now been authorised in Great Britain in six to 11 year olds. The vaccine is safe and effective in this age group.

We have in place a comprehensive surveillance strategy for monitoring the safety of all U.K.-approved COVID-19 vaccines and this surveillance includes those aged six to 11.

It is for the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to advise in due course on whether six to 11s should be offered vaccination with the COVID-19 vaccine made by Moderna as part of the deployment programme.

How effective really is it against the immune-evading Omicron variant, though, and do the benefits really outweigh the risks in an age group at such low risk from the virus? There has been no assessment of this published by the MHRA, as far as I am aware.

The MHRA also today approved the Valneva Covid vaccine for 18-50 year-olds, which uses more traditional vaccine technology and so may be safer than the novel genetic vaccines.

The U.K.’s independent medicines regulator is the first in the world to approve the Valneva vaccine which becomes the sixth COVID-19 vaccine to be granted an MHRA authorisation.

It is also the first, whole-virus inactivated COVID-19 vaccine to gain MHRA regulatory approval. With this type of vaccine, the virus is grown in a lab and then made completely inactive so that it cannot infect cells or replicate in the body but can still trigger an immune response to the COVID-19 virus. This process is widely used already in the production of flu and polio vaccines.

June Raine said:

Our approval of the COVID-19 vaccine made by Valneva today follows a rigorous review of the safety, quality and effectiveness of this vaccine, and expert advice from the Government’s independent scientific advisory body, the Commission on Human Medicines.

Professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed, Chair of the independent Commission on Human Medicines, said:

The independent Commission on Human Medicines and its COVID-19 Expert Working Group has carefully considered the available evidence are [sic] pleased to say that we have advised that the benefit risk balance is positive. The vaccine is approved for use in people aged 18 to 50 years, with the first and second doses to be taken at least 28 days apart.

Interesting choice of words: not “safe and effective” but “the benefit risk balance is positive”. For everyone? Against Omicron? The trial is still ongoing so it’s not possible to review the findings for ourselves, though some information is provided here. Almost all trial participants are under 50, hence the approval being limited to the younger age range.

The U.K. has not actually yet purchased any doses of Valneva and also the approval doesn’t include use as a ‘booster’ so it has little immediate practical effect. In time it means a more traditional vaccine is available for those who wish to avoid experimental gene-based products – and unlike Novavax, not just based on the spike protein.

Tags: MHRAModernaSafetyVaccinating ChildrenVaccines

Donate

We depend on your donations to keep this site going. Please give what you can.

Donate Today

Comment on this Article

You’ll need to set up an account to comment if you don’t already have one. We ask for a minimum donation of £5 if you'd like to make a comment or post in our Forums.

Sign Up
Previous Post

Elon Musk Moves to Buy Twitter

Next Post

News Round-Up

Subscribe
Login
Notify of
Please log in to comment

To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.

Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.

183 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

DONATE

PODCAST

Special Episode of the Sceptic: Charles Cornish-Dale on Testosterone Decline, How the Modern World Is Making Us Sick and How to Save the West

by Richard Eldred
11 July 2025
1

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

Reform MP Sarah Pochin Accused of Lying About Impact of Illegal Migrants by Labour Council

12 July 2025
by Steven Tucker

News Round-Up

12 July 2025
by Toby Young

Emergency Exit at English Heritage

12 July 2025
by Mike Wells

Water Companies Use Smart Meters to Impose Surge Pricing During Heatwaves

12 July 2025
by Will Jones

Over-Labelling Children With ‘Special Needs’ has Failed a Generation

12 July 2025
by Mary Gilleece

News Round-Up

31

Water Companies Use Smart Meters to Impose Surge Pricing During Heatwaves

26

Why I Changed My Mind About Abortion

34

Reform MP Sarah Pochin Accused of Lying About Impact of Illegal Migrants by Labour Council

16

“Not Clear if Heat Pumps Will Save Money,” Government Adviser Admits

37

Emergency Exit at English Heritage

12 July 2025
by Mike Wells

Over-Labelling Children With ‘Special Needs’ has Failed a Generation

12 July 2025
by Mary Gilleece

How Much Does Cancel Culture Harm Academics’ Careers?

12 July 2025
by Noah Carl

Reform MP Sarah Pochin Accused of Lying About Impact of Illegal Migrants by Labour Council

12 July 2025
by Steven Tucker

How Britain Sold Itself to the World as Paradise

11 July 2025
by Anonymous former BBC staff member

POSTS BY DATE

April 2022
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
252627282930  
« Mar   May »

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

POSTS BY DATE

April 2022
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
252627282930  
« Mar   May »

DONATE

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

Reform MP Sarah Pochin Accused of Lying About Impact of Illegal Migrants by Labour Council

12 July 2025
by Steven Tucker

News Round-Up

12 July 2025
by Toby Young

Emergency Exit at English Heritage

12 July 2025
by Mike Wells

Water Companies Use Smart Meters to Impose Surge Pricing During Heatwaves

12 July 2025
by Will Jones

Over-Labelling Children With ‘Special Needs’ has Failed a Generation

12 July 2025
by Mary Gilleece

News Round-Up

31

Water Companies Use Smart Meters to Impose Surge Pricing During Heatwaves

26

Why I Changed My Mind About Abortion

34

Reform MP Sarah Pochin Accused of Lying About Impact of Illegal Migrants by Labour Council

16

“Not Clear if Heat Pumps Will Save Money,” Government Adviser Admits

37

Emergency Exit at English Heritage

12 July 2025
by Mike Wells

Over-Labelling Children With ‘Special Needs’ has Failed a Generation

12 July 2025
by Mary Gilleece

How Much Does Cancel Culture Harm Academics’ Careers?

12 July 2025
by Noah Carl

Reform MP Sarah Pochin Accused of Lying About Impact of Illegal Migrants by Labour Council

12 July 2025
by Steven Tucker

How Britain Sold Itself to the World as Paradise

11 July 2025
by Anonymous former BBC staff member

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union
  • Home
  • About us
  • Donate
  • Privacy Policy

Facebook

  • X

Instagram

RSS

Subscribe to our newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In

© Skeptics Ltd.

wpDiscuz
You are going to send email to

Move Comment