In adolescents with serious neurological conditions, the side effects of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are likely to be mild to moderate and mostly clear up within three days, a small study suggests.

The 27 children in the UK study, aged 12 to 15, had muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, or other neurological diseases or conditions such as heart defects and immune deficiency, doctors report in Archives of Disease of Childhood.

All were considered to be at risk of respiratory infection and likely to need residential care at times, thus falling into a category of 12-15 year-olds that the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation deemed should be offered vaccination for COVID-19.

The paediatricians from the University of Bristol asked parents and caregivers to keep diaries recording side effects after the teenagers received doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.