CANBERRA – Australia’s medical regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), today provisionally approved Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine for children aged between five and 11.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said the federal government now expects the vaccine rollout for that cohort to start on January 10, pending approval from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation.
“The vaccine dose approved by TGA for children aged five to 11 is the same safe and effective vaccine used for other age cohorts. However, it is one-third the dose approved for those aged 12 and over,” Xinhua news agency quoted Hunt as saying.
“As with other age groups, the use of this vaccine in children aged five to 11 should be given in two doses, at least three weeks apart.”
There are approximately 2.3 million Australians in the five to 11 age bracket.
It said as of yesterday, about 88% of Australians aged 16 and over, and 67.5% of those aged 12-15 were fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
Australia today reported more than 1,200 new locally acquired coronavirus cases and eight deaths, as the country continues to battle the third wave of infections.
The majority of them – 980 cases and seven deaths – were in Victoria, the country’s second-most populous state with Melbourne as the capital city.
The number of Omicron variant cases in Australia has increased to 18, after more infections were reported in the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales.
Parliament House in Canberra was closed today after a staffer to Greens leader Adam Bandt tested positive for Covid-19, it added. – Bernama, December 5, 2021
