THE Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has provisionally approved the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children aged five to 11 years old.

The announcement on Sunday came after the TGA approved the COVID-19 vaccine for individuals 12 years and older in July and a booster dose for people aged over 18 in late October.

Children aged five and over could expect to receive their first dose as soon as January 10, with a second dose likely to be administered about two months later.

Children’s doses of the COVID-19 vaccine are a third of an adult’s - 10 micrograms - compared to 30 micrograms for an adult.

The TGA said clinical trials were conducted in the United States, Finland, Poland, and Spain, with participants in the five to 11 age group carefully considered when making the regulatory decision. 

According to the clinical trials, observed side effects in children were mild, with side effects including injection site pain, fatigue, headache, injection site redness and swelling, muscle pain, and chills.

While this latest development only extends to children five and over, vaccines for children under five may not be far away.

Pfizer has already begun two separate studies on how its vaccine works in children under five, looking at children aged six months to two years and children aged two to five years.