Travel vaccines: what to book, and how far ahead

The two questions I am asked most are "what do I need" and "am I too late". The first depends entirely on where you are going and what you will be doing there. The second is almost always no.

Why the itinerary matters more than the country

Risk is not evenly spread across a country. Two weeks in a coastal resort and three months working in a rural district of the same country are different trips with different answers. When you book, tell us the regions, whether you will be rural or urban, the dates, the type of accommodation, and what you will actually be doing. Trekking, working with animals, staying with family, or visiting during a rainy season all change the advice.

I check current national travel health guidance on the day of your appointment, for each destination, rather than from memory. Recommendations change, sometimes at short notice, and a clinic that gives you last year's answer is not doing the job.

Timing, honestly

Six to eight weeks ahead is the comfortable window. It allows any multi-dose course to be completed and gives immunity time to develop.

Rabies is the one that most needs planning: a pre-exposure course takes several weeks. It matters most for long trips, rural areas, cyclists, and anyone travelling with children, who are more likely to approach animals and less likely to report a lick or a scratch.

Yellow fever needs to be given at least ten days before entry for the certificate to be valid, and it can only be given at a registered centre. We are one.

Hepatitis B has an accelerated schedule that can be completed in three weeks where necessary.

Two weeks before departure still leaves time for most single-dose vaccines to be worthwhile.

Two days before departure is still worth an appointment, because malaria prevention, bite avoidance and food and water advice do not need lead time and are, for many destinations, the things most likely to actually keep you well.

The vaccines get the attention. Mosquito bite avoidance and sensible food and water habits prevent more illness than any of them.

Malaria is not a vaccine question

Antimalarial tablets are matched to the resistance pattern of the specific region you are visiting, not to the country as a whole, and different options suit different people: some are daily and some weekly, some are unsuitable in pregnancy, and some interact with common medications. This part of the consultation takes longer than the injections do.

Whichever you take, it is not complete protection. Nets, repellent containing an effective concentration, and covering up at dawn and dusk still matter.

Children and long trips

Children travelling need their routine UK schedule checked first — a surprising number of families discover a gap at this appointment — and then the travel-specific ones on top. If you are going for months rather than weeks, come earlier: courses can be spread comfortably rather than squeezed.

What it costs

The consultation is £55 and is waived if you have two or more vaccines with us. Vaccines are charged individually and every price is on our fees page, because the one thing patients tell me they cannot find anywhere else is a straight list of what each jab costs.

Some travel vaccines are available free on the NHS and some are not, and NHS practices vary in what they offer. It is always worth asking your own surgery first for the ones they provide. We will tell you which those are.

This article is general information, not advice about your situation. If something here applies to you, book an appointment or speak to your own doctor. Ravelston Health is not an emergency service. If you need urgent help call 999, or NHS 24 on 111 when your GP practice is closed.