More than 40 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Australia since the rollout began in February.

The national vaccine tally passed the milestone on Thursday, as a new cohort was formally approved to receive the COVID jab.

Children aged five to 11-years-old will be able to get the Pfizer vaccine from January 10, after final approval was granted by Australia's leading immunisation group.

The decision from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation means 2.3 million children will be eligible for the vaccine, with doses recommended to be spaced eight weeks apart.

Health officials have said all school children would be able to receive their first dose by the time classes resume next year.

Vaccine bookings will be able to be made for the age group from late December, with GPs and pharmacies expected to deliver most of the jabs when the child rollout begins.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia would be one of the first countries in the world to offer the COVID-19 vaccine for children.

"As a parent, there are no more important decisions that you make than those about the health and wellbeing of your children," he told reporters in Sydney.

"This is another important step forward in our vaccination program."

Health Minister Greg Hunt said the decision would give parents confidence and choice.

"It protects our children, it protects their families, and it protects their schools and so these are really important steps," he said.

"This has been a challenge for all of us but I tell you what, Australians have risen to that challenge."

ATAGI member Professor Allen Cheng assured parents the vaccine would be safe for children.

He said he was encouraged from US findings, where the vaccine has been available to children for several weeks.

"We took that couple of extra weeks to just see what happened in the US - they've vaccinated more than five million children," Professor Cheng told ABC Radio on Friday.

"We had a chat to their authorities and they said they hadn't seen any unexpected safety signals, so that's a lot more reassuring."

Mr Morrison and state and territory leaders discussed the child vaccination rollout at a national cabinet meeting on Friday.

There were more than 96,000 vaccines administered on Thursday, taking the national total to 88.9 per cent of over 16s being fully vaccinated.

More than 641,000 booster shots have been administered.

There has, however, been a spike in COVID-19 cases in NSW, with 516 new infections in the latest reporting period, the highest daily figure since the end of the state's lockdown.

There were 1206 cases and two deaths in Victoria.

Six cases were reported in the ACT, while Queensland had six locally acquired infections, all on the Gold Coast.

Four cases were detected in the Northern Territory.