9 news – Children under 12 will have to wait until 2022 to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, despite the Federal Government securing five million vaccines from overseas.
Health authorities are waiting for more data from the US before they give the go-ahead for the jabs.
It is expected the rollout will begin in January and escalate towards the end of that month, ahead of the return to school.
The Telegraph – Under-12s won’t receive their first Covid vaccination jab until early next year and the government has no plans to change the definition of “fully vaccinated” for older Australians to include a booster shot, the health minister says.
Children aged between five and 11 will not be able to access a vaccine until at least early 2022, Greg Hunt said on Sunday, arguing the federal government saw no reason to rush the program.
Smaller doses of the Pfizer mRNA vaccine have been recommended for under-12s meaning Australia has had to order new batches which contain the correct dosages. Those 5m doses aren’t expected to arrive until at least January, Hunt suggested.
“At this stage, to the best of my knowledge, only the United States has provided an emergency approval for children 5-11. And our medical regulator, the TGA, and the technical advisory group led by the Victorian principle vaccines adviser to the premier, Prof Allen Cheng, said they do not want to cut corners on the study and data for children,” the health minister told ABC TV’s Insiders program.
