Australia, quickly becoming one of most-vaccinated nations against Covid-19, will likely start administering the shots for children under the age of 12 in January, officials said.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said medical regulators are still reviewing the health and safety data for the vaccinations to be administered for children between the ages of five and 11 and are unlikely to decide this year.

“The expectation that they have set is the first part of January, hopefully early January,” Hunt told the Australian Broadcast Corp's "Insiders" programme. “But they're going as quickly as possible.”