Children aged 5 to 11 start receiving the COVID-19 vaccine

Children between the ages of five and 11 have begun to receive the COVID-19 vaccine from Monday, Health Minister Chris Fearne announced. 

Taking to social media, the health minister said that the consignment of vaccines allocated for this age group arrived on Sunday and that the vaccination programme would begin on Monday. 

The European Medicines Agency has authorised the use of Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine among children aged between 5 and 11 back in November. 

The vaccine, known by its trade name Comirnaty, will be given in two injections three weeks apart but at a lower dose.

The Pfizer vaccine is already authorised for use in people aged 12 and above and has been a mainstay of Malta's vaccination programme.

EMA said the most common side effects in children aged 5 to 11 are similar to those in people aged 12 and above.