Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt says children will be prioritised for COVID-19 vaccines once approved by Australian regulators and has asked Pfizer to provide data on their effectiveness. The company announced this week its vaccine is safe and effective for 5- to 11-year-olds, although it has yet to publish its trial data. AMA president Dr Omar Khorshid said we must wait for the science because “COVID-19 is so much less severe in children”. In the meantime, children can meet up in new “friend bubbles”. 

Comments:

Once approved?

Approval is only EMERGENCY use, not FDA approved.

But Pfizer has already suggested that it is effective.

Pfizer says its COVID-19 vaccine works for children aged 5 to 11 and that it will seek US approval for this age group soon – a key step toward beginning vaccinations for youngsters.

The vaccine made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech is already available for anyone 12 and older.

But with kids now back in school in the US and the extra-contagious Delta variant causing a covid committee huge jump in pediatric infections, many parents are anxiously awaiting vaccinations for their younger children.

The article goes onto to say

He said the companies aim to apply to the Food and Drug Administration by the end of the month for emergency use in this age group, followed shortly afterwards with applications to European and British regulators.

Another article suggests

Young children could be eligible for a coronavirus vaccine by the end of November after Australia’s medical regulator received preliminary data from pharmaceutical company Pfizer this week.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration boss Professor John Skerritt said once all the data was received from Pfizer the approval process would take a matter of weeks. But he said that work would not be rushed.

Although Greg Hunt and the AMA president are looking for data, they are under Pfizer’s spell.

So in summary, the thing is a done deal.