The Therapeutic Goods Administration has given provisional approval of the Moderna COVID vaccine for children aged between 12 and 17.
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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.
The recommended dosage of the Moderna vaccine for children over 12 is the same as for adults, being two doses given four weeks apart.
A spokesman for the administrator said the vaccine had been used successfully for the 12-17-year-old age group in the UK, Canada, EU and Switzerland.
"Provisional approval for use in the 12 to 17 years age group has been made following careful evaluation of the available data supporting safety and efficacy," the spokesman said.
"The decision to provisionally approve the vaccine for use in this age group was informed by expert advice from the Advisory Committee on Vaccines, an independent committee with expertise in scientific, medical and clinical fields, including consumer representation."
READ MORE COVID-19 NEWS:
The federal government has secured 25 million doses of the Moderna vaccine for use as part of the country's vaccine rollout.
Of those, 10 million doses will be used this year, while the remaining 15 million will be used for booster shots in 2022.
The latest vaccine figures have shown 37.1 per cent of the eligible population over 16 are fully vaccinated.
In the ACT, 44.5 per cent are fully vaccinated while more than 67 per cent have received their first dose.
It comes after the ACT government opened the mass vaccination clinic at the AIS Arena on Friday.
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Andrew Brown
I've been part of the Canberra Times since 2016, after reporting at local papers in Sydney's north-west. Since starting at the paper I've had stints on the Sunday Times, on the early morning breaking news round, and now as a general reporter, covering the ins and outs of anything and everything happening in Canberra, with a focus on health.
I've been part of the Canberra Times since 2016, after reporting at local papers in Sydney's north-west. Since starting at the paper I've had stints on the Sunday Times, on the early morning breaking news round, and now as a general reporter, covering the ins and outs of anything and everything happening in Canberra, with a focus on health.
