The Morrison government has rejected calls to include children under 16 in vaccination coverage targets linked to easing coronavirus restrictions.
A national reopening agreement rests on thresholds of 70 and 80 per cent of the population aged 16 and above being fully vaccinated.
Greens leader Adam Bandt on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Scott Morrison requesting national cabinet includes the whole population in reopening targets.
Mr Bandt said the exclusion of under-16s meant the target could be met when 65 per cent of the entire population was vaccinated.
"It is difficult to see widespread acceptance of reopening if children and teenagers are not part of the vaccination targets," he wrote.
But Health Minister Greg Hunt said the Doherty Institute, which modelled the targets, had not recommended including child vaccinations in the figures.
"The advice is that the correct target for Australia, the appropriate and necessary target should be the 16-plus adult population on the basis of the transmissibility," he said.
"That's the scientific advice to Australians."
The government is waiting for the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation to decide on vaccinations for children aged 12 to 15, with advice expected on Friday.
Children in that age bracket who have compromised immune systems, are Indigenous or live with underlying health conditions are already eligible for Pfizer.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said no country was vaccinating children under the age of 12.
"The best way we can protect children aged 12 to 15 is to ensure that you're vaccinated, as parents, uncles, aunties, families," he told the Nine Network.
Labor health spokesman Mark Butler said the prime minister should give a clear commitment about when they would be vaccinated.
"We can't have a position where the prime minister exposes the community to the full force of this Delta variant, the full force of this disastrous third wave, while our children are unprotected," he told ABC radio.
Education Minister Alan Tudge said making vaccines mandatory for teachers and childcare workers was a decision for state and territory governments.
"I would certainly like to see every single childcare worker vaccinated," he told the ABC.
Mr Tudge said modelling underpinning the national deal showed schools could reopen safely with 70 per cent vaccination coverage, provided there were no outbreaks.
Australian Associated Press
