South-East Asia
Thailand travel vaccinations
Most trips to Thailand need less than people expect. Hepatitis A is recommended for most travellers, and your tetanus booster should be in date. Everything else depends on where you're going, how long you're staying and what you'll be doing, which is what your consultation is for.
- Consultation with a pharmacist
- GPhC premises 9011598
- Ewell, Epsom
Recommendations depend on your itinerary, health history and current guidance.
What the guidance says
Vaccines for Thailand
If you're visiting family, staying a month or more, or heading north to Chiang Mai and the countryside, the picture changes. That's when typhoid, hepatitis B, rabies and Japanese encephalitis come into the conversation, and it's worth booking early, as some of these courses take four to five weeks to complete.
10 vaccines the guidance mentions for Thailand, 8 of them given here. Which apply to you is settled at your consultation.
Recommended for most travellers
It spreads through contaminated food and water, and a good hotel doesn't remove the risk.
- Timing
- No minimum notice. Protection develops within about two weeks, and a dose on the day you fly is still worth having.
- Protection
- One dose protects for up to 12 months. A second dose at 6 to 12 months takes that to about 25 years, with a booster at 25 years for anyone still at risk.
If it was more than ten years ago and you'll be anywhere medical care is limited, a booster is recommended.
- Timing
- One injection, effective quickly in anyone previously vaccinated.
- Protection
- The full UK course is five doses, which gives most people lifelong protection. Travel boosters top up tetanus, diphtheria and polio for around ten years.
For some travellers, depending on the trip
Vaccination may be considered for long-term or frequent travellers and during outbreaks. There are two vaccines with different eligibility, so a clinical assessment always comes first.
- Timing
- IXCHIQ must be given at least 30 days before travel. Vimkunya has no fixed minimum, but earlier is better.
- Protection
- Both vaccines are a single dose. Most people make protective antibodies within about three weeks, and the immune response starts to build within a week. The need for a booster hasn't been established.
Vaccination is only considered in specific cases, usually for people who've had dengue before, so daytime bite avoidance is the main protection.
Not given at Miles Pharmacy; referred on after assessment.
- Timing
- Two doses three months apart, so it needs planning well ahead.
- Protection
- Considered mainly for people who've had dengue before.
- Timing
- The very rapid schedule gives protection within about three weeks for adults. Other schedules take one to two months to protect.
- Protection
- Around 90% of adults respond. After a complete course, healthy people don't need a booster: protection against chronic infection lasts 20 to 30 years or more.
It's considered for stays of a month or more, frequent trips, uncertain plans, or shorter trips with rural exposure such as rice fields and pig farms. City and beach-only trips are lower risk.
- Timing
- The course must finish at least a week before possible exposure: about five weeks on the standard schedule, two weeks on the accelerated one.
- Protection
- Protection begins 7 days after the second dose. One dose is not enough. First booster at 12 to 24 months for ongoing risk, or at 12 months for people living in a risk area.
Make sure you've had two doses of MMR. Babies from six months old who'll be mixing with local people can have an early dose.
- Timing
- Two doses at least a month apart; the second can be brought forward for travel.
- Protection
- Two doses give long-lasting protection. A dose given before 12 months doesn't count towards the two.
Vaccination before travel is recommended for stays over a month, running or cycling, work with animals, or where treatment would be hard to reach. It doesn't replace urgent care after a bite, but it makes that treatment simpler and removes the need for immunoglobulin, which is in short supply worldwide. Children are at higher risk.
- Timing
- Standard course 21 to 28 days; accelerated course 7 days.
- Protection
- A full course primes your immune system, so if you are bitten you need fewer doses of treatment and usually no immunoglobulin. It never removes the need for urgent treatment after a bite.
Not given at Miles Pharmacy; referred on after assessment.
- Timing
- A tuberculin skin test is needed first from 6 years of age.
- Protection
- Given once; no boosters.
It's worth considering if you're visiting family, staying long-term or travelling often where food hygiene may be poor. It doesn't cover paratyphoid, so food and water care still matters.
- Timing
- At least 2 weeks before travel. A dose closer to departure can still be considered, and we'll explain the limits.
- Protection
- Protection lasts about three years. It isn't fully protective, and it doesn't cover paratyphoid, so food and water care still matters.
the guidance mentions that are not usually part of a trip like this.
A starting point, not a quote. Course prices assume every dose is given here, and some courses need more than one visit, so the timings matter as much as the totals.
Malaria and certificates
Where the risk actually is
Most visitors to Thailand don't need malaria tablets. There's no malaria risk in the cities of Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Koh Phangan, Koh Samui and Pattaya. Risk is very low across the rest of the country, including Kanchanaburi, and low in the rural, forested border areas with Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. For all of these areas the advice is awareness and bite avoidance rather than tablets. Tablets may be considered in exceptional cases, such as long stays visiting family, pregnancy, travellers over 70 or those with a weakened immune system, and that's a decision made at your consultation.
Yellow fever certificate. You won't need a yellow fever certificate flying from the UK. You will if you're 9 months or older and arriving from a country with yellow fever risk, or you've spent more than 12 hours in transit at an airport in one. Miles Pharmacy is a registered Yellow Fever Vaccination Centre. About the yellow fever vaccine
- No malaria risk Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Koh Phangan, Koh Samui, Pattaya
- Very low risk Kanchanaburi, all remaining areas not listed
- Low risk rural, forested borders with Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar
Worth knowing
Beyond the vaccines
Not everything worth knowing has a vaccine. These are the rest: what the guidance says to prepare for, and the notices it has issued in the last three months.
- Zika
- Zika is present in Thailand. If you're pregnant or planning a pregnancy, talk to us before you travel, as there's specific guidance on avoiding conception after your trip.
- Sexual health
- UK travellers have come home from Thailand's popular tourist areas with extensively drug-resistant gonorrhoea, which is very hard to treat. Condoms are the best protection, and hepatitis B vaccination is worth talking through before you go.
- Air quality
- Air quality can be poor in the north, particularly from February to April. If you have a heart or lung condition, bring enough of your usual medication.
- Altitude
- Doi Inthanon, Thailand's highest point, is above 2,500 metres. Altitude illness is uncommon on standard itineraries but worth knowing about if you're trekking.
- Insect bites
- Beyond malaria, mosquitoes and ticks here spread dengue, chikungunya, Zika, JE and scrub typhus, so repellent, long sleeves and screened or air-conditioned rooms matter day and night.
Before you book
Questions about Thailand
Answered by the pharmacist who signs this page off.
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Most travellers don't. Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Pattaya have no malaria risk, and the rest of the country is very low or low risk, where the advice is bite avoidance rather than tablets. We'll only suggest tablets if your circumstances put you at higher risk.
Samit Patel Superintendent Pharmacist Reviewed 2026-09-16 -
It depends on your plans. JE risk peaks from May to October in the north, including the Chiang Mai Valley. If you'll spend time in the countryside or stay a month or more, it's worth discussing. The course is two doses and protection starts a week after the second, so allow five weeks, or two weeks on the accelerated schedule if you're aged 18 to 65.
Samit Patel Superintendent Pharmacist Reviewed 2026-09-16 -
Ideally four to six weeks before you fly, especially if you might need JE or rabies vaccines. If you're travelling sooner, an appointment is still worthwhile, as some protection is better than none.
Samit Patel Superintendent Pharmacist Reviewed 2026-09-16 -
Not if you're flying from the UK. You'll need one if you're arriving from a country with yellow fever risk, or you've spent more than 12 hours in transit at an airport in one. Miles Pharmacy is a registered Yellow Fever Vaccination Centre.
Samit Patel Superintendent Pharmacist Reviewed 2026-09-16 -
For a city and beach trip, most people need from £205. Longer or rural trips cost more, depending on which courses you need. We'll confirm exactly what's recommended for your itinerary before you pay for anything.
Samit Patel Superintendent Pharmacist Reviewed 2026-09-16
NaTHNaC Registered Yellow Fever Vaccination Centre
A Yellow Fever Vaccination Centre on the NaTHNaC register, and the same travel clinic that gives your other vaccinations.
GPhC registered premises
9011598
Private and NHS pharmacy services from one registered pharmacy in Ewell, Epsom.
Find the pharmacy
Where to come, and when
Ewell, Epsom, Surrey KT19 9UR
How to get here Parking, trains, buses and step-free access
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The door is on Chessington Road, with step-free access
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The station car park, on Station Approach off Chessington Road
- Address Elizabeth Court, Station Approach, KT17 1DR
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Step-free to all platforms, by a footbridge with lifts
- Step-free to every platform (National Rail step-free category A)
- Lifts two, on the footbridge
Checked against nationalrail.co.uk
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Outside the pharmacy, with a stop on each side of Chessington Road
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Cycle parking at the station
Take this with you
Point your phone's camera at the code and this page opens there, with the directions one tap away.
Checked against NaTHNaC TravelHealthPro on . Entry requirements change: check TravelHealthPro and FCDO before you travel.
Travel health
Book before you pack.
Questions first? Call us on 020 8393 1000
- Private and NHS
- GPhC premises 9011598
- Open until 6:30pm
Prefer to talk? 020 8393 1000