The Government of Canada says to see a provider about six weeks before you fly; Ontario's own advice is two or three months, which is the safer target if you may need a course of doses. Call the desk first to ask what a travel visit costs here and which vaccines are kept on site — yellow fever is only given at designated centres, wherever you go.
What the visit covers
- Whether your routine shots — measles, tetanus, polio — are up to date
- Whether malaria tablets are recommended for your destination — a prescription, not a needle
- Whether a baby too young for the routine MMR should have an early dose
- Where yellow fever has to be given, and what the certificate actually is
- What the Government of Canada is currently warning about your destination
- Insect-bite, food and water precautions for where you are going
- Getting enough of your regular medication to last the whole trip
The two hard deadlines: ten days, and six weeks
Canada's advice is that travel health services are available in most communities or through your family doctor. The lead time is there because several travel vaccines are a course, not one needle: rabies pre-exposure is three doses, on days 0, 7 and any time between days 21 and 28; Japanese encephalitis is two doses 28 days apart; hepatitis B runs 0, 1 and 6 months. A few have an approved short course when time has run out — Japanese encephalitis on days 0 and 7 for adults 18 to 65, and the combined hepatitis A and B vaccine at 0, 7 and 21 days with a final dose at 12 months — but that is a decision at the visit, not something to plan around.
Yellow fever is the one with a deadline attached. In Canada you can only be vaccinated at a designated Yellow Fever Vaccination Centre; each holds a numbered stamp from the Public Health Agency of Canada and issues the International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis. The certificate becomes valid ten days after the dose and then lasts for the life of the person vaccinated. Immunization records generally travel as photocopies, with the originals left at home — the certificate is the exception, and you must carry the original. PHAC lists the designated centres by province and territory.
Two doses of a measles-containing vaccine is what counts as protected, for children and most adults born after 1970, and Public Health Ontario says anyone travelling within or outside Canada should make sure they are covered before they go. For an infant going somewhere measles is common, the Canadian Immunization Guide allows MMR from six months of age. That early dose does not replace the schedule: two more doses of a measles-containing vaccine are needed after the child is twelve months old, at least four weeks apart.
The Public Health Agency of Canada posts travel health notices at four levels: practise health precautions, practise enhanced health precautions, avoid non-essential travel, and avoid all travel. Canada also advises reading your destination's Travel Advice and Advisories page twice — once when you are planning and again shortly before you leave. Bring what you find, because it changes what is worth vaccinating against.
What OHIP covers
Travel vaccines are not part of Ontario's publicly funded immunization program, so the vaccine is something you buy. The ministry does not reimburse any fee attached to a privately purchased immunization — administration, dispensing or assessment — and those amounts vary from one place to the next.
Walk in, or book?
Ask for an appointment rather than joining the walk-in queue, and ask early — a two- or three-dose course has to be started. Flying sooner than that? Canada's advice is that an appointment is still worthwhile.
What to bring
- Every destination and stopover with dates — malaria advice is set by region, city and season, not by country alone
- Any immunization record you have, and an old yellow fever certificate if you were ever given one
- What you take now, and how many days of each you have left
- Anything the doctor should weigh — pregnancy, a baby under one, a condition or medicine that affects your immune system
- The destination's Travel Advice and Advisories page, if you have already looked it up
Questions people ask
If I get ill overseas, does OHIP cover it?
Barely. Outside Canada OHIP pays for doctors' services at the lower of the amount billed or the Ontario rate, up to $50 a day for emergency outpatient care and up to $400 a day for an operating room, coronary, intensive or neonatal care ($200 a day for lower levels), and it pays nothing towards a transfer back to an Ontario hospital. Ontario's own wording is that travel medical insurance is essential — buy it before you go, and check it covers getting you home.
Can't a pharmacy just give me my travel shots?
Some of them, for a price. Ontario pharmacies do not give vaccines under the publicly funded program apart from free COVID-19 and flu shots, so anything else at a pharmacy is out of pocket, and the administration cost varies from one to the next. Ask before you buy, so you are not paying for the same dose twice.
I fly next week. Is a visit still worth it?
Canada's advice is yes: even when the travel date is close, an appointment is still worthwhile. The first thing it lists to discuss is whether your routine vaccinations are up to date, which matters wherever you are going. Yellow fever is the one thing a late visit cannot fix.
Are malaria tablets a prescription?
Yes, and there is no malaria vaccine available in Canada. The tablets are prescribed before the trip and taken before, during and after it, and which one suits depends on where you are going — PHAC publishes the recommendations country by country, down to regions, cities and seasons. Ask the desk whether a prescription can be written here before you build a plan around it.
Still have a question? Call the front desk.
Related
- Flu shots and routine immunizationsFlu shots in season, routine vaccines
- Children's health and well-baby visitsWell-baby checks, immunizations, growth
- Prescription renewalsBring the bottle or a photo of the label
