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To make the decision that’s best for your child, it’s useful to think about how the risks associated with COVID-19 compare with the risks of vaccination.
The charts on this page put those risks side by side so you can easily compare them. Here's how to use the charts:
The vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech is known as 'Comirnaty', or BNT162b2, or most commonly as 'the Pfizer vaccine'.
It is an mRNA vaccine which means it uses genetic code from a part of the virus to train your child’s immune system. The genetic code is quickly broken down by the body and cleared away. Your child can not catch COVID-19 from Comirnaty (Pfizer).
After the second dose, Comirnaty (Pfizer) is around 90% effective against the Delta variant in children.1-2 Effectiveness against Omicron is still unknown but if your child catches COVID-19 after they've been vaccinated, their illness will usually be mild.
Your child will be given two injections, eight weeks apart.3,4 The amount given is one third of the adult dose.3,4 The time between doses can be shortened to three weeks for children with medical risk factors for severe illness.3
The chart below compares the risks of COVID-19 with the risks of the Pfizer vaccine.5-20
After the second dose, Comirnaty (Pfizer) is over 90% effective against the Delta variant in adolescents aged 12-16 years.1 In adolescents, Comirnaty (Pfizer) is around 93% effective in protecting against hospitalisation with COVID-19 (Delta variant)2 and 90% effective in reducing the risk of the rare but serious post-infection condition, MIS-C (Delta variant).3 These studies were conducted before the emergence of the Omicron variant and we don’t know how effective vaccination is against the Omicron variant yet. If your child catches COVID-19 after they've been vaccinated, their illness will usually be mild.2,3
Your child will be given two injections, three to six weeks apart.4 The dose is the same as the adult dose.
The vaccine developed by Moderna is known as ‘Spikevax’ or 'the Moderna vaccine'.
It is an mRNA vaccine which means it uses genetic code from a part of the virus to train your child’s immune system. The genetic code is quickly broken down by the body and cleared away. Your child can not catch COVID-19 from Spikevax (Moderna).
After the second dose, Spikevax (Moderna) is about 94% effective against COVID-19.1 It may be less effective against more recent variants, such as the Delta and Omicron variants, but it will still protect your child against serious illness, hospitalisation and death.1
Your child will be given two injections, four to six weeks apart.1
The chart below compares the risks of COVID-19 with the risks of the Moderna vaccine.1-19