COVID: Pfizer's vaccine gets nod in Australia on 12-15 agers

Sydney: The drug regulator of Australia has approved the use of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine among teenagers from 12 to 15 years of age, reports Reuters. The Therapeutic Goods Administration's decision was announced by the Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt on Friday, while the country is facing a Delta variant outbreak in three of its states.

The health minister said that the drug regulator has thoroughly studied the domestic and international evidence on the vaccine before approving it on the age range. He added that the country's vaccination panel would advise on which groups of children should be prioritised for vaccination and administration time.

Until the new decision, the vaccine was administered only to candidates of 16 years old and above in the country.

Though the country has restricted positive Covid-19 cases to 32,400 and deaths at 915 and handled the pandemic much better than many other developed countries, the public was frustrated by recurring lockdowns and sluggish vaccination programmes.

On Thursday, the Australian prime minister apologised to his people for the slow progress of the vaccination programme and said that they look to speed it up and meet the target to vaccinate the adult population by the end of 2021. Only 15% of the adult population is fully vaccinated so far.

Several weeks ago, drug regulators of the United States, European Union, and Britain had given clearances to using the vaccine in children