Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says the government is watching the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine to children in the US, ahead of a final decision on its use in Australia.
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Australia's leading vaccination body is set to hand its decision to the government later this week on whether to approve the Pfizer vaccine for five- to 11-year-olds.
The country's medical regulator gave the green light to the vaccine for the cohort last weekend.
Mr Frydenberg said vaccine use among children in the United States was encouraging.
"This is a positive development," Mr Frydenberg told the Seven Network on Wednesday.
"We are following what has happened in the United States with the rollout of the vaccines to younger kids, and it will provide another line of defence against the virus."
The US has already vaccinated more than five million children in the age group since regulators approved the immunisation.
At a Senate committee hearing on Tuesday, Australia's chief medical officer Paul Kelly said data from the US on reported side effects was reassuring.
There are more than 2.3 million children in the age group in Australia with the vaccines set to begin from January 10, should they be given final approval.
The committee was told it was hoped all children would be able to receive their first dose before the start of the school year.
Mr Frydenberg said the vaccine uptake among children was critical to help keeping schools open,.
"We also want our kids to stay in the classroom as much as possible," he said.
"One way to do that is to roll out the vaccine to younger kids early next year."
It comes as Australia has 37 cases of the Omicron variant, with 10 of those being acquired overseas.
Infectious diseases expert at the University of Sydney Robert Booy said the new strain appeared to be milder than other variants.
"It spreads like crazy and is more transmissible than Delta, but it may be a silver lining in being milder," he told the Seven Network.
"The South Africans are doing great surveillance and so we are getting science at lightning speed, so we know within days instead of months what the virus is doing."
Australia's fully vaccinated rate for over 16s has increased to 88.3 per cent while 93 per cent have had a first dose.
NSW has recorded a spike in the number of COVID cases, with 403 infections and one death.
In Victoria, there were 1312 cases while there were five deaths reported.
Australian Associated Press
