Some of the vaccines recommended when traveling to Australia
You will need proof of vaccination against yellow fever when entering Australia in six after spending a night or more in one of the yellow fever infected countries. The list of such countries can be found online
If health is a big concern for you when traveling to Australia, there are a number of vaccinations that you may want to consider. First and foremost the WHO advices all travelers to be vaccinated for: measles, hepatitis B, mumps diphtheria, chickenpox, tetanus, polio and rubella their no matter which country they are traveling to. Since the consequences of being infected with any of the above diseases can be far reaching ensuring that regular vaccination has been done is important. At times there are outbreaks of some of these diseases. This is so even if Australia is one of the countries with very high rates of child vaccination.
Here is a medical checklist that you may want to go through before you travel:
- Antibiotics
- Paracetamols /aspirin
- Anti bacterial ointment for cuts
- Bandages and gauze rolls
- Anti histamines
- Antidiarrhoeal medicine
- Scissors
- Sun block
- Thermometer
- An insect repellant
- Adhesive
- Iodine tablets to purify water
- Pocket knife and any other thing that you may think as necessary during your travel.
One of the places where you can get information easily is the internet. The WHO for instance has an International, Travel and Health book which is regularly revised and is available on their website free of charge. Another important site that has daily updates on health travel advice for each country is the www.mdtravelhealth.com.
You may also want to look at your government’s travel advisory website for more insight. For a pocket size book that is easy to carry around yet has a wealth of valuable advice is the Lonely Planet’s Healthy Travel Australia, New Zealand & the Pacific.
