Australia to wait for data from US children before clearing vaccine here - Sydney Morning Herald

Australia’s top immunisation advisers will wait on safety data from at least several hundred thousand young children in the US who will be vaccinated in coming weeks before giving the go-ahead for the jab in 5- to 11-year-olds, with experts stressing risks to unvaccinated children in schools are low.

A trial of Pfizer’s paediatric COVID-19 vaccine in 1500 children was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday. The trial found the vaccine was safe and effective.

But with low cases and high rates of adult vaccination coverage, Australia will wait to see how the vaccine plays out in reality before approving the shot, with a larger sample size needed to determine the risk of very rare complications, such as the heart condition myocarditis.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention independent panel unanimously recommended Pfizer’s vaccine for children aged between 5 and 11 last week, after it was granted emergency use authorisation by the FDA. The first children received the vaccine on November 3.

Professor Allen Cheng, who co-chairs the country’s vaccine advisory group the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI), said he expects paediatric data on children in the US who have been double-dosed to be available within the next four weeks.

“Children are only getting their first vaccines now. So by the beginning of December we will start to see more safety data come through,” he said.

Last week, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews expressed optimism about having children in that age group vaccinated this year.