Tasmania's school year could be delayed in a bid to allow primary school students to get vaccinated against COVID-19, Premier Peter Gutwein says.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is yet to approve vaccines for five to 11 year olds, but Mr Gutwein told State Parliament he expected that to occur in January, or early in February.
That would leave little time for children to take up the chance to get vaccinated before the 2022 school year begins.
Mr Gutwein said the Government needed to wait until it got the TGA approval before rolling out the vaccine for that cohort, but is considering pushing back the school year to ensure children had the chance to be vaccinated.
"I've already indicated to the secretary of the Department of Education that if we need to, we will look at the starting date of the school year to ensure that we can get that vaccination level up to as high a level as possible," he said.
"But I would make the point that all of the advice that I have received to date is that the impact on younger children is much milder, much less severe than the impact on adults.
"And importantly that is evidence that we're seeing from all around the world."
Tasmania is set to open its borders to overseas and domestic hotspots on December 15.
