The South Korean government has approved the use of Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for people aged 16 and older.

According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on Friday, a panel including outside experts gave the vaccine the green light on the condition that a final report on the clinical studies is submitted.

The committee gave the same assessment as two previous expert advisory sessions, agreeing that the vaccine has a sufficient efficacy rate of 95 percent and that its safety was satisfactory.

The vaccine was approved for people aged 16 and older as multinational clinical studies have been conducted on such age groups and based on the assessment that immune reactions among teenagers are not much different from adults.

The South Korean government, however, currently does not include teenagers under 18 in its national vaccination program.

The results come as Pfizer vaccines purchased directly from the American pharmaceutical company and sufficient for 23 million people are due to begin arriving later this month. 

Pfizer vaccines acquired through the COVAX Facility are already being administered to frontline health workers in South Korea. The COVAX supply received a special trade exemption instead of a formal approval.