NSW Health releases 2026 Childhood Vaccination Campaign Toolkit

NSW Health has released its 2026 Childhood Vaccination Campaign Toolkit, giving early childhood education and care (ECEC) services access to ready-to-use resources that support families to understand the importance of vaccination and keep children’s immunisations up to date.

The toolkit brings together downloadable and print materials that ECEC services, health organisations and community groups can use to promote childhood vaccination across their communication channels.

The campaign focuses on the importance of receiving vaccinations at the recommended ages to protect children against serious vaccine-preventable diseases, including measles and whooping cough.

“On-time vaccination gives your child the best protection,” NSW Health said.

“Vaccines work best when they’re given at the recommended ages. The childhood schedule is carefully designed to make sure children achieve the highest level of protection for each disease.”

The Childhood Vaccination Campaign Toolkit contains resources designed for use across digital platforms, service environments and community communication.

Available materials include:

• A3 and A4 posters;
• social media tiles;
• digital and lift-screen graphics;
• Microsoft Teams backgrounds;
• email signature images;
• A6 postcards; and
• stickers.

The collection includes materials developed for the general population as well as dedicated resources for Aboriginal families and communities.

ECEC services can use the resources across newsletters, family communication platforms, social media, reception areas, enrolment information and other family-facing spaces.

The accompanying communication toolkit also contains suggested social media and newsletter copy, helping services share consistent messages using information developed by NSW Health.

To support communication with culturally and linguistically diverse families, NSW Health has made key social media assets and digital A4 posters available in 17 community languages.

The translated materials provide services with a practical way to make vaccination information more accessible to families who may prefer to receive important health messages in a language other than English.

ECEC services and other organisations can order printed copies of selected A4 posters, postcards and stickers through the NSW Health resource order form.

Printed materials are available in general community and Aboriginal campaign designs. Community-language versions are available as digital downloads only.

Services can download and print translated posters locally or share the digital resources through email, social media and family communication platforms.

The NSW Childhood Immunisation Schedule outlines which vaccines children should receive and the recommended age for each dose.

Vaccines are scheduled at particular ages because this is when children may be most vulnerable to serious illness and when vaccination can provide the most effective protection.

NSW Health cautions that delaying vaccination may leave children unprotected during important stages of their development. However, families whose children have missed a scheduled dose can access catch-up vaccinations by speaking with their GP, clinic or Aboriginal Medical Service.

Vaccines included in the National Immunisation Program are free for children in NSW and can be accessed through GPs, Aboriginal Medical Services and some local councils and community health centres.

Parents and carers can also use the NSW Health personalised vaccination schedule to check which vaccines their child may need, print a copy of the schedule and add relevant dates to their calendar.

ECEC services regularly communicate with families about children’s health, wellbeing and enrolment requirements, placing them in a valuable position to share reliable public health information.

The campaign toolkit provides professionally developed resources that services can use without needing to create their own vaccination materials or interpret clinical information.

For services, the resources may help to:

• provide families with timely vaccination reminders;
• direct parents and carers to trusted health information;
• strengthen community understanding of childhood immunisation;
• communicate with families in their preferred language; and
• support awareness of catch-up vaccination options.

The materials do not replace services’ responsibilities relating to immunisation records, enrolment or infectious disease management. Nor should educators provide individual medical advice. Families with questions about a child’s vaccination history, eligibility or medical circumstances should be directed to an appropriate health professional.

Childhood vaccination helps protect individual children while also reducing the opportunity for vaccine-preventable illnesses to spread throughout the community.

This is particularly relevant in early childhood settings, where children spend extended periods learning, playing and interacting closely with one another.

The release of the toolkit gives ECEC providers an opportunity to review how vaccination information is shared with families and whether those communications are accessible across the communities they serve.

Services can access and download the complete collection from the NSW Health Childhood Vaccination Campaign Toolkit.