Stay safe and healthy when you travel.

Travel Vaccines

Vaccine needs vary considerably from country to country, but the best place to start is with the recommended vaccine schedules for children and adults. In Utah, some vaccinations are required for school entry. However, most of the vaccines that are routinely administered in childhood require periodic booster doses throughout life to maintain an effective level of immunity. Adults often neglect to keep up the recommended schedule of booster vaccinations, particularly if the risk of infection is low. Additionally, some adults have never been vaccinated at all. It is important to realize that diseases such as diphtheria and poliomyelitis, which no longer occur in most industrialized countries, many be present in those visited by travelers. Pretravel precautions should include booster doses of routine vaccines if the regular schedule has not been followed, or a full course of primary immunization for people
who have never been vaccinated.

Additional vaccines are advised on the basis of a travel risk assessment for the individual traveler. In deciding which vaccines are appropriate, the following factors should be considered for each vaccine:

• risk of exposure to the disease
• age, health status, vaccination history
• special risk factors
• reactions to previous vaccine doses, allergies
• risk of infecting others
• cost