Australian Children between the age of 12 to 15 will start to be vaccinated as of September 12.

The decision was taken after technical advice of the Australian government confirmed that Pfizer is suitable for young people.

However, several experts have also warned that an ongoing vaccine  shortage can cause further trouble if the government starts vaccinating young people right now. Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (Atagi) has suggested that Pfizer doses should not be prioritised for young people. They also advised the government to let adults get an opportunity to choose their vaccine before starting to vaccinate children with Pfizer.

After the announcement, Australian leader Scott Morrison said the country is moving towards a “soft and careful opening” instead of a “big opening”.

This announcement has come amidst a new worry of a fresh spread of the virus after two truck drivers tested positive for coronavirus. These drivers had travelled from WA to New South Wales. They were also fully vaccinated, wearing face mask and had very limited public exposure, as per reports.

The Western Australian premier Mark McGowan said that he plans to continue border restrictions even if the country reaches 70 per cent vaccination target. “The idea that we would bring down the border and allow open travel … It would be a catastrophe and I’m just not going to do it,” McGowan told local media. “The idea we just deliberately infect our citizens when we get to 70% … I just can’t do that, because people will die.”