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What Travel Vaccinations are Free on the NHS?
- Dr Ravi Gowda
- Jul 7
- 6 min read
Updated: Oct 31
Although people tend to travel abroad throughout the year in the UK, July is often the peak month when you might plan for your travel vaccinations. Travel vaccinations are an important part of your holiday preparation in order to protect you from serious infections.
Vaccinations play an important role in public health and preventing disease, disability and death. In fact, the World Health Organisation estimates vaccination campaigns prevent 4 to 5 million deaths per year worldwide. They also argue that by improving vaccination campaigns we can still prevent another 1.5 million deaths every year.
The National Health Service (NHS) in the UK is a key provider of healthcare services and this includes travel related vaccinations. Did you know that some of your travel vaccinations are entirely free on the NHS? This will not only keep you safe but also ease the financial burden as you may have already spent a considerable amount of money on your holiday. Although some of the vaccinations are free through the NHS, there are others that you will need to obtain from a private travel clinic at your own cost.
In this article we'll run through:
Travel vaccinations available for free on the NHS
The NHS will offer certain travel vaccinations free as part of a recommended vaccination schedule for specific countries or regions of the world where you might be at risk. Your doctor or nurse will follow recommended guidelines from the Green Book: A guide to Immunisation or country specific risks highlighted by the National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC)
Here are a list of free NHS travel vaccinations:
You’re at risk of getting this viral infection in many parts of the tropics where food or water might be contaminated by faeces, or individuals not washing their hands properly before preparing food.
This is a bacterial infection which is spread the same way as hepatitis A but is often much more serious.
Diphtheria, tetanus and polio (DTP)
These three vaccines are often given as a single injection. Polio has been virtually eradicated but it’s still a concern in some countries such as Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The vaccine is often administered before travel but it's also part of your UK childhood vaccination schedule. To complete the schedule, you should have had five doses by the time you leave school. However, if you’re travelling, we’d still recommend a booster dose every 10 years.
Cholera is another food and water borne disease that was responsible for worldwide pandemics of acute watery diarrhoea. The big worldwide outbreaks have now declined following the implementation of public health policies to improve basic water sanitation, sewerage systems and living standards. Cholera vaccination, however, is still an important method of prevention for travellers, especially if you’re a healthcare or aid worker volunteering in outbreak situations.
Why some travel vaccinations aren't free on the NHS
A better way of answering this question is to ask why are some vaccines free on NHS?
There are some infections that are deemed important public health problems. What do we mean by this? Well, some diseases like typhoid and cholera are easily transmissible from person to person and therefore can potentially spread within the population. Indeed, cholera and typhoid outbreaks were common in the 1830s in London. It's this fear that ensures we receive free travel vaccinations for at least some of the infections.
Travel vaccinations like rabies and Japanese encephalitis are currently not free because they don't pose a significant public health risk in the UK. Rabies has been eradicated from a domestic and wild animals (except in bats) in the UK and the mosquito that spreads the Japanese encephalitis virus cannot currently thrive in our cool climate.
Travel vaccinations not available for free on the NHS (Private health clinic options)
Although some travel vaccinations are not available in NHS, they’re still accessible through private clinics such as Health Klinix.
List of travel vaccinations not covered by the NHS:
Hepatitis B is a viral infection that spreads through blood, blood products, sexual relationships, contaminated medical instruments, intravenous drug use as well as from mother to baby. It’s now part of the NHS routine childhood vaccination schedule since 2017 but it's only given to babies, so if you're travelling it's unlikely you would be eligible.
This is another viral infection spread by daytime biting mosquitoes. It's only found in some parts of South America and Africa, so not everyone travelling to the Tropics needs the vaccine. Nationally accredited Yellow Fever Vaccination Centres such as Health Klinix can offer the vaccination.
This vaccine is routinely offered at the age of 13 at school but if you're at high risk such as when you are travelling to some parts of Africa or going on a pilgrimage to the Hajj or Umrah, then you should consider getting vaccinated from a private travel clinic.
As we've all heard recently in the news, rabies can be deadly so please consider the rabies vaccine if you think you might be at risk.
This viral infection, as it says on the tin, is transmitted by ticks and can cause a serious inflammation of the brain. Remember that you'll be at risk if you travel to some parts of Northern and Western Europe and much of the Eurasian subcontinent.
Tuberculosis (TB)
Some of you old enough to remember will know that the BCG vaccine (that protects us from TB) was part of the routine school immunisation programme until 2005. It's now only offered to people who are at high risk. So if you've not had the BCG vaccine and you're a healthcare worker or working or living abroad in countries of high risk, it should be a consideration.
How to book private travel vaccinations
Once you've booked your holiday, start planning for your travel vaccinations early. Make sure you contact your GP early so that you can get your free vaccinations in good time. Your GP will need plenty of notice so don't leave it till the last moment. At the same time, why not contact a trusted an expert private travel clinic who’ll be able to advise on destination specific risks based on your individual circumstances and itinerary?
Make sure you book with somebody who is experienced, knowledgeable and most importantly someone you can trust to administer your private travel vaccinations. Many private travel clinics, like Health Klinix, offer convenient online booking and accessible appointments in the evenings and weekends. They’ll also be able to offer expert advice based on any medical conditions that you have and will often be able to quantify the risks of disease versus the risks of vaccination.
Remember, no medication or vaccine is completely safe and you need to be sure that the vaccine you’re going to receive is going to be of benefit to you.
Cost of private vaccinations
The overall cost can be highly variable depending on your destination, duration of travel and which specialist travel vaccinations you might need. To give you some examples,
hepatitis B costs £52 per dose, yellow fever vaccine £77 and Japanese encephalitis £116 per dose. Don't forget you can make big savings on all vaccines with our amazing value membership scheme.
The travel health advice we offer requires specialist knowledge and experience and as this takes some time, we do charge a very small fee of £30 for our consultations. This fee increases slightly if there is more than one person but still represents incredible value. For more information on our prices, take a look at our private travel vaccine price page.
Finally, just remember that the NHS provides a fantastic free travel vaccination service but it's imperative that you book well in advance so that you don't miss out on the free stuff. You'll may still need some specialist vaccinations but that's where private travel vaccination clinics come in. Again, be sure to book well in advance as some vaccinations require multiple doses over a month and vaccines take time to work.
Have you booked a holiday at the last minute and you’re unable to get your free vaccinations through the NHS? Don't worry, Health Klinix can provide all the necessary travel vaccinations and advice, all in a convenient one – stop clinic. Why not book a travel consultation today?
Sources and References:
Written and Approved by:
Dr Ravi Gowda, Consultant Physician in Infectious Diseases and Travel Medicine , MBBS, MRCP(UK), DTM&H, MRCGP, DCH, DRCOG, DFFP
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