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Health Minister Greg Hunt has asked Pfizer to apply for its Covid-19 vaccine to be given to Australian children aged five to 11.
The pharmaceutical giant on Monday said its vaccine works for children in this age-group and that it will seek authorisation in the US this month.
The vaccine is already approved for anyone over 12 in Australia.
Three-year-old Andel was the first youngster to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Stanford Medicine in California. His parents, Otavio and Zina Good, enrolled him in a clinical trial for children aged six months through four years
On Tuesday Mr Hunt wrote to Pfizer Australia boss Anne Harris to request that Pfizer also apply for approval for five to 11 year olds from Australia's Thereputic Goods Administration.
'Should the ATAGI also approve vaccination of this age cohort, vaccination would commence as a priority,' Mr Hunt said.
For children under 12, Pfizer tested a much lower dose - a third of the amount in each shot given now.
After their second dose, children aged five to 11 developed coronavirus-fighting antibody levels just as strong as teenagers and young adults getting the regular-strength shots, said Dr Bill Gruber, a Pfizer senior
