The European Union drugs regulator has authorised Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine for use on children aged from five to 11.

It clears the way for jabs to be administered to millions of school children on the continent amid a new wave of infections sweeping across Europe.

It is the first time the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has cleared a COVID-19 vaccine for use in young children.

The agency said it “recommended granting an extension of indication for the COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty to include use in children aged five to 11”.

The vaccine, called Comirnaty, will be given in two doses of 10 micrograms three weeks apart as an injection in the upper arm, the EMA recommended. Adult doses contain 30 micrograms.

However, the French health minister Olivier Veran has asked the country’s medical ethics committee and health regulator to examine whether children as young as five should get a jab.

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