Highlights
- In Australia, a vaccine only recommended for those aged over 16
- Data shows the Delta variant affects young and old alike
- Mitigation strategies used by Australian schools to date include requiring students aged over 12 to wear masks in the classroom, and limiting large gatherings such as assemblies
Currently teens aged 16 and over can receive the Pfizer injections, and there's anticipation the Therapeutic Goods Administration will soon approve the vaccine's use for 12-15 year-olds.
As the new, highly infectious Delta variant becomes the dominant strain across the world, there's concern that more children are catching COVID-19.
But Professor Christine Macartney, from the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, says that's, in part, a side-effect of a successful vaccination program.
"So that essentially means the vaccine is working because in those countries a large proportion of older people have been vaccinated and that's keeping them out of hospital if they are infected they usually only have mild disease. But for children and young people they're often not vaccinated in these countries yet and so they are taking up a slightly greater proportion of those hospitalised."
