US firm Moderna asks EU to approve its coronavirus vaccine for children aged 12 to 17

The firm, which is supplying millions of doses to the UK, has said its jab is highly effective for adolescents aged 12 to 17 and has no serious safety concerns.

It comes after the UK regulator the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for children aged 12 to 15.

Moderna, which has a contract to supply 17 million doses to the UK in a two-dose schedule, has carried out clinical trials in the US involving more than 3,700 youngsters.

In May, the company announced that no cases of Covid-19 were found in adolescents given two doses of the jab, giving a vaccine efficacy of 100pc.

When the company looked for milder cases of Covid-19 after just the first dose, the vaccine was shown to be 93pc effective.