The EU's medicines watchdog said it had started to evaluate Pfizer/BionTech's coronavirus booster vaccine to children aged 12 to 15 years.

The European Medicines Agency last week said it would rule soon on a similar application to give the booster jab, called Comirnaty, to teens aged 16 and 17 within the 27-nation bloc, AFP reports.

“EMA has started evaluating an application for the use of a booster dose of Comirnaty in adolescents aged 12 to 15 years,” the Amsterdam-based agency said.

“An application in older adolescents aged 16 to 17 years is also ongoing,” it added in a statement.