Australia To Start Giving COVID-19 Vaccine To Children Age 5-11 January 2022

Illustration of COVID-19 vaccination for children. (Source: UNICEF/Zhang Yuwei)

JAKARTA - Australia will begin providing a COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 from January 10, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday, after the program completed final regulatory provisions.

"This will be great news for the millions of families across the country who want the opportunity for their children to be vaccinated," PM Morrison said in a statement.

After reviewing clinical data from Canada, the Kangaroo Country's vaccination advisory group recommended an eight-week interval between the two doses, which could be shortened to three weeks in the event of an outbreak.

Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine will be administered at an early stage, while regulators are still assessing the suitability of Moderna's vaccine. A decision is expected in the coming weeks.

The decision comes as Australia seeks to accelerate the rollout of booster injections, having become one of the most vaccinated countries in the world against COVID-19, vaccinating nearly 90 per cent of its population over the age of 16 with two doses. Meanwhile, about 70 percent of children aged 12 to 15 years have been fully vaccinated.

Authorities have been urging people to take booster shots, along with concerns about the new, more infectious Omicron variant amid a steady rise in infections in Sydney, Australia's largest city.

To note, the State of New South Wales, which includes Sydney, reported 516 new cases on Friday, the biggest increase in two months.

Most are caused by the Delta variant, but the number of Omicron infections has been on the rise since Australia reported its first case about two weeks ago. About 50 cases have been detected so far, the majority in Sydney.

In total, to date, Australia has reported around 225.000 cases of COVID-19 and 2.084 deaths, far less than many comparable countries.