Children aged six to 11 years can get a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from tomorrow, after it was given the final approval from federal regulators.
It is now the second vaccine available for children under 12, joining Pfizer, which children aged five to 11 can access.
The national vaccine panel, ATAGI, gave its final approval after the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approved the vaccine earlier this month.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said children could get a Moderna jab from tomorrow, but it would depend on whether individual GPs or pharmacies had enough stock.
"The important thing is it's the same formula; it's half of the adult primary dose but it's the same as the adult booster dose," he said.
"We have Moderna in over 4,000 points of presence around the country."
Head of the TGA, Professor John Skerritt, said the approval made Australia one of the first places in the world to approve Moderna for that age group.
"Healthy children can have two doses eight weeks apart," he said.
"But for children who need to travel or who are immunocompromised, they can have it as soon as three weeks apart."
Professor Skerritt said given it was the same dosage used for adult boosters it would hopefully mean it was convenient for pharmacies, GPs and vaccination clinics.
"There's a convenience factor in that the pharmacies or GPs… can use exactly the same vial for Moderna, for the children for the boosters and for the adults," he said.
"It does bring an extra 1,600 sites — some GPs and a lot of pharmacies who are set up to do Moderna but not Pfizer.
"It means that mum and dad can have their boosters and they can bring their primary school-aged kids and get their jabs all in one go."
Vaccines for under fives 'put on ice': TGA
The TGA is also not expecting progress on approvals for COVID-19 vaccinations for children aged under five until later this year.
Pfizer has extended its submission to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expand the use of its vaccine to children aged between six months and four-years-old.
The pharmaceutical company wants to examine data on the use of different doses to see whether the change provides a higher level of protection within the age group.
"The FDA has put on ice, I think is the best way to say, their review of the data," Professor Skerritt said.
"They were going to have a committee meeting last week to look at it but it is clear especially for certain ages in that band there is a need for either a third dose or a higher dose than that used by Pfizer."
Professor John Skerritt said that would also slow the process down in Australia.
"I'm not expecting other regulators including us will get submissions for under fives until well after Easter."
