COVID-19 vaccination and vaccines for children and teenagers
COVID-19 vaccination protects against severe COVID disease and is safe.
This guide explains whether your child needs a COVID-19 vaccine.
Children with very weak immune systems: 6 months up to 5 years
If your child aged 6 months-5 years has a very weak immune system, talk with your GP, your child’s specialist, a nurse or another trusted vaccination provider about whether your child needs a COVID-19 vaccination.
Primary course
If you’ve talked with your vaccination provider and decided that it’s best for your child to be vaccinated, your child will get a primary course of 2-3 vaccine doses, with each dose given 8 weeks apart.
Booster doses
Your child doesn’t need a booster dose.
Children with very weak immune systems: 5-17 years
If your child aged 5-17 years has a very weak immune system, talk with your GP, your child’s specialist, a nurse or another trusted vaccination provider about whether your child needs a COVID-19 vaccination.
Primary course
If you’ve talked with your vaccination provider and decided that it’s best for your child to be vaccinated, your child will get a primary course of 1-2 vaccine doses, with the second dose given 8 weeks after the first.
Booster doses
You and your vaccination provider can discuss a booster dose for your child if it has been 12 months since their last dose.
Children with medical conditions: 6 months up to 5 years
If your child aged 6 months-5 years has a medical condition that increases their risk of severe COVID disease, talk with your GP, your child’s specialist, a nurse or another trusted vaccination provider about whether your child needs a COVID-19 vaccination.
Primary course
If you’ve talked with your vaccination provider and decided that it’s best for your child to be vaccinated, your child will get a primary course of 2 vaccine doses given 8 weeks apart.
Booster doses
Your child doesn’t need a booster dose.
Children with medical conditions: 5-17 years
If your child aged 5-17 years has a medical condition that increases their risk of severe COVID disease, talk with your GP, your child’s specialist, a nurse or another trusted vaccination provider about whether your child needs a COVID-19 vaccination.
Primary course
If you’ve talked with your vaccination provider and decided that it’s best for your child to be vaccinated, your child will get a primary course of one vaccine dose.
Booster doses
Your child doesn’t need a booster dose.
COVID-19 vaccination prevents vulnerable children and teenagers from getting very sick, being admitted to intensive care, or dying because of COVID-19. It also reduces their chance of getting long COVID.
Healthy children: 6 months-17 years
Primary courses and booster doses aren’t needed for healthy children aged 6 months up to 17 years.
To find out where you can get your child vaccinated, use Healthdirect’s service finder. You can also check your state or territory government or health website.
COVID-19 vaccine safety and effectiveness for children and teenagers
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is continually checking that all vaccines are safe and working as they should for children and teenagers across the world.
Global clinical trials and routine monitoring show that COVID-19 vaccines are effective – that is, that they prevent severe COVID disease in children and teenagers. The trials and routine monitoring have also shown that the vaccines are safe for children and teenagers.
COVID-19 vaccine doses for children younger than 12 years are smaller than the doses recommended for teenagers and adults. This is because clinical trials and routine monitoring have found that smaller doses are safe and effective, so there’s no need for larger doses.
COVID-19 vaccination side effects
COVID-19 vaccines are safe. Like all medicines, they can still have side effects.
Common, mild side effects
Pain or swelling at the injection site, tiredness, headache, muscle pain, fever and chills are the most common side effects for children who get COVID-19 vaccines. These are generally mild and last only 1-2 days.
Children under 5 years are more likely to experience fever, particularly if they’ve had COVID-19 before.
Rare side effects
Anaphylaxis is a possible but very rare side effect of any medicine or vaccine, including COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccination providers monitor everyone for signs of anaphylaxis for 15 minutes following vaccination.
If your child has a history of anaphylaxis or anaphylactic reactions to vaccines, talk with your GP, allergy and immunology specialist or immunisation specialist before vaccination.
Myocarditis and pericarditis are other possible but rare side effects of COVID-19 vaccination. They can also happen after COVID disease. These conditions are usually mild, and people usually recover well from them. Younger children are less likely to get these conditions than teenagers.
If your child has myocarditis, pericarditis, acute heart failure, acute rheumatic fever or rheumatic heart disease or has had one of these conditions recently, talk to your child’s medical specialist before vaccination.
In the weeks after your child’s vaccination, you should seek urgent medical attention if your child has any of the following – chest pain, shortness of breath, awareness of their heartbeat, or feelings of faintness. Take your child to your GP or a hospital emergency department as soon as possible.
Questions about COVID-19 vaccination: what to do
It’s OK to be careful about getting your child vaccinated. If you have questions about the side effects or safety of COVID-19 vaccination, talk with a health professional like your GP or a vaccination provider. These professionals are trustworthy sources of information and can address your concerns.
The recommendations in this article are reliable because they come from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI).
It’s essential to get vaccination information from reliable and trustworthy online sources, like government websites or the World Health Organization. These sources have information that’s based on scientific research, which means you can rely on what they say.
Other protective measures against COVID-19
All children and teenagers should take simple protective measures against COVID-19, regardless of whether they’re vaccinated:
- Wash hands and use personal hygiene.
- Stay away from people who are sick, or wear a face mask if they’re going to a place where people might have COVID.
- Stay away from others or wear a face mask if they have COVID themselves.