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Australian children aged five to 11 will finally begin receiving COVID-19 jabs within weeks after the Therapeutic Goods Administration granted provisional approval on Sunday for them to receive the Pfizer vaccine.

TGA approval is the second-last hurdle before the much-anticipated rollout begins. The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisations is expected to grant approval in time for a start date of January 10.

The January 10 start date means that a significant percentage of the estimated 2.3 million children aged 5 to 11 in Australia will be able to get at least their first dose of the vaccine before the 2022 school year starts in February.

Australian health minister Greg Hunt confirmed the TGA approval on Sunday.

“Our provisional expectation, at this stage, is that we’ve been able to bring forward the commencement of the pediatric doses or the children’s doses to January 10,” Mr Hunt said.

“So that’s our provisional date. But the message for Australians is very clear. From January 10, Australian children will have access to Pfizer vaccines and it’s recommended for children right across Australia. It’s about keeping our kids safe, keeping our families safe and keeping Australians safe.”

Deputy TGA secretary Professor John Skerritt said some children who received the vaccine had shown similar reactions to adults such tiredness, sore arms and headaches but those symptoms were brief and fairly short compared to adults.

Professor Skerritt said decisions were still to be made on how far to space out the two doses.

“The TGA approval is for vaccination at least three weeks apart and so we await for ATAGI advice,” Professor Skerritt said.

“One of the key things that are taught you will look at is the gap between the two doses because there’s been some emerging decisions in places like Canada suggesting that children should perhaps be done two months or eight weeks apart to get a stronger immune response.”

Victoria has recorded seven deaths and 980 new cases in the 24 hours to Sunday morning, with 299 people in hospital with the virus.

The Sunday numbers in Victoria showed a drop in new cases down from 1365 on Saturday, with the figures moving up and down in recent weeks.

Victoria’s vaccination rate is 91 per cent full vaccination for 12 and over, while the seven-day average for hospitalised people is 294.

There are 40 active cases in ICU and 43 cleared cases along with 16 people on ventilators.

The state conducted 65,449 tests in the last 24 hours.

SA border call an ‘awkward decision’

Australian Medical Association vice president Dr Chris Moy says the South Australian government is facing a very difficult decision on how to manage its border with Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT with Christmas fast approaching and the Omicron variant of COVID-19 appearing in those states.

The SA government opted to keep borders open on Saturday but added two additional testing “hurdles” for people arriving from those locations but Premier Steven Marshall didn’t rule out closing the border if Omicron cases rose.

“It’s a compromise because it’s been a very difficult, awkward decision to make in South Australia,” Dr Moy told ABC News 24 from Adelaide on Sunday morning.

“We’ve just had the amazing joy of family unions and suddenly the shock of actual Delta cases [in SA], although things are going to plan, according to the Doherty playbook.

“There are cases but we haven’t seen very many extremely sick people. The thing is that now there’s this spanner in the works, which is Omicron.

“So we’ve been sitting there trying to work out if we’re going to jump into a freezing pool – the same pool Victoria and NSW fell into earlier and now we find out there’s a possible shark in the pool.

“So it’s a difficult decision because the signals about Omicron are somewhat mixed in terms of whether it is more infectious or severe and we have no information about whether it can escape the vaccines at the moment. It’s a hard decision.

“This is a compromise to try and put up some hurdles in front of it before it comes and if we have to pull the lever [close borders], the Premier has indicated he may consider doing that.”

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