Travel Vaccination
In 2023, over 1.2 billion people travelled for tourism1. While travelling abroad, people can encounter a number of health risks. For example, bites from mosquitoes, ticks and animals can cause serious diseases such as yellow fever, tick-borne encephalitis and rabies. Furthermore, tourists can contract infectious diseases endemic to the regions where they have travelled to, such as typhoid fever. However, many of these diseases are preventable through vaccination. This is why it is crucial to include travel immunisation as part of the holiday planning process, and make sure to check with your local health authority on what vaccinations are recommended for the destination you’re planning to visit.
As people travel, viruses travel too. Tourists who visit a country become exposed to new pathogens characteristic for that country, but the opposite is true as well. Tourists can bring pathogens that are new for that country, thereby exposing its citizens to new health threats risks. Therefore, it is crucial that both travellers and citizens of the countries they visit have received all recommended vaccinations.
