Following provisional approval by Medsafe, the Director-General of Health has recommended, and Ministers have approved, the use of the paediatric Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children aged six months to four years who are at higher risk of severe disease if they were to catch COVID-19.
It is anticipated that the vaccine will be available in February 2023. Eligibility will be limited to children who are severely immunocompromised, or who have complex and/or multiple health conditions which increase the risk of severe disease from COVID-19 (following the Starship Child Health table of underlying comorbidities).
This eligibility is based on advice from the COVID-19 Vaccine Technical Advisory Group (CV-TAG). The vaccine for this age group is an adapted version of the vaccine used for five to 11 olds.
The provisional approval is for three doses, with the second dose given three weeks after the first dose, followed by a third dose given at least 8 weeks after the second dose.