Children aged five to 11 are expected to start receiving their COVID-19 vaccinations from 10 January, in time for the beginning of the school year:
Australia's national medicines regulator the Therapeutic Goods Administration on Sunday provisionally approved the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children as young as five years old.
It will also advise on how it should be administered, including aspects including the duration between shots. Orange-capped vials will be used to vaccinate five to 11-year-olds, as opposed to grey or purple which are used for the older age groups. This age group is also susceptible to the sometimes-fatal MIS-C inflammatory syndrome, which COVID-19 can trigger.
The most frequent adverse reactions seen in trials were injection-site pain, redness and swelling, fatigue, headache, muscle pain and chills.