Moderna COVID-19 vaccine approved for 12 to 17-year-olds

Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt, announced that the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has given provisional approval of the Moderna COVID vaccine for children aged between 12 and 17.

The provisional approval follows the decision made by the administrator in August which allowed for those over 18 to receive the vaccine.

Moderna is the third COVID vaccine to have been approved for use in Australia, following the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines.

Minister Hunt also stated that “Australia has an advance purchase agreement with Moderna to secure 25 million doses of the vaccine – 10 million this year and 15 million of booster vaccines in 2022, with the first doses arriving later this month.

The Government will now await the advice of the independent Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) on how the approval of the Moderna vaccine for 12 to 17-year-olds should be incorporated into Australia’s vaccine rollout program. This advice is expected in the coming week.”

According to reports, the Moderna vaccine will likely be made available primarily in pharmacies, and will only be made available to people under the age of 60.

Photo by Artem Podrez from Pexels