Travel vaccinations

If you are heading overseas it’s important to know what vaccinations you need before you go.

Talk to your health care provider or visit a travel medicine clinic 2-3 months before you go to find out if you need to be immunized, this allows enough time for any necessary vaccines to become effective.

Routine, recommended and required vaccines

Routine

All travelers should be up-to-date on their routine immunizations. While diseases such as polio may be rare in British Columbia, many of them are still commonly found around the world.

Recommended

You may need to get certain vaccines depending on where you are travelling to and how long you will be staying. Get in touch with your local public health unit, doctor, or travel medicine clinic to find out what immunizations you need. Recommended vaccines may include: cholera, Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), hepatitis A, influenza, Japanese encephalitis, meningococcal disease, rabies and/or typhoid.

Required

Yellow fever vaccination is required by International Health Regulations for travel to some countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South America. The government of Saudi Arabia requires proof of meningococcal vaccination for travel during the Hajj.

Resources:

From the Public Health Agency of Canada:

From the U.S. Centers for Disease Control: