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Professor John Skerritt said the medical regulator will “dig even deeper” on the data before approving the vaccine for young children.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

“As soon as any medicine or vaccine is proposed for use,or applied for use,in children,you need to dig even deeper,” Professor Skerritt said.

“We look at safety very thoroughly for every age group. But we dig even deeper for children. The trial data for children will be on more kids[than there was for] the booster,safety monitoring will be for a longer period.”

The TGA received a partial application from Pfizer on Tuesday to provide its vaccine to children aged five to 11. Professor Skerritt said the regulator expected to receive the remaining data in the next fortnight.

“We still have more to get from the Pfizer application for five to 11-year-olds,” he said on Wednesday morning.

“I would hope that we would get there by the end of November,but it really does depend on when we get the full application from Pfizer,the complete version,and if there are any issues,” he said.

The US has also moved a step closer to approving the vaccine for young children after a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel agreed that thevaccine’s benefits outweighed potential risks.

The FDA has not yet approved the vaccine for young children. If it passes that step,it will be up to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to decide whether to recommend its use for children so young.

After completing trials of its vaccine in younger children,Pfizer says a dose one-third the size of the adult dose is safe and effective in five to 11-year-olds.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are approved for everyone aged 12 and over in Australia.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said 74.8 per cent of Australians aged 16 and over were now fully vaccinated.

Even if the vaccine was eventually approved for younger children,Mr Hunt said there was no plan to introduce a “no jab,no play” policy.

“I think that’s likely to remain the case,” he said.

Professor Skerritt said Moderna also indicated it was gathering data on the use of its vaccine in younger children.

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