The Ultimate Vietnam Travel Guide: 5 Things a Liverpool Pharmacist Wants You to Know Before You Fly

**1. Hepatitis A and typhoid are the baseline — and Vietnam is a food trip.**

Both are food and water borne, and both are recommended for essentially all travel to Vietnam. That matters more here than in a resort destination, because a great deal of what makes Vietnam worth visiting is eaten at street level. We are not going to tell you to avoid the food. We are going to tell you to be vaccinated before you enjoy it.

Hepatitis A is a single dose, with a booster 6–12 months later taking you to around 25 years. Typhoid is a single injection giving roughly three years. Check your records first — a lot of previous travellers are already covered.

**2. Japanese encephalitis is a real consideration in the Mekong Delta and the north.**

More so than in Thailand. Japanese encephalitis is transmitted by mosquitoes breeding around rice cultivation and pig farming, and Vietnam has both across large rural areas. It is still not a city-break vaccine — a week in Hanoi and Hoi An does not need it. But a month working through the Delta, a rural homestay stretch, or an extended stay in the northern highlands in the wet season moves it firmly onto the table.

Two doses over 28 days, with an accelerated 7-day adult schedule. So this is the one that most rewards booking early.

**3. Rabies — the same argument as the rest of Southeast Asia.**

Rabies is present in Vietnam and dogs are the main source. Pre-exposure vaccination doesn't make you immune; what it does is remove the need for rabies immunoglobulin after a bite, which can be difficult to obtain quickly outside major cities, and cut the post-bite course to two doses.

Worth considering for longer trips, motorbiking the Ha Giang loop or the coast road, rural homestays, and travel with children.

**4. Dengue is the more likely infection, and there's no shortcut.**

Dengue is widespread in Vietnam, with a marked wet-season rise in the south. The dengue vaccine licensed in the UK is not a routine travel recommendation — it's an individual decision weighted heavily by previous dengue infection and by long or repeated exposure.

What genuinely helps everyone is daytime bite avoidance, because the mosquito carrying dengue bites in daylight. That's the opposite habit to the one most people prepare for.

**5. Malaria is not a Vietnam-wide problem.**

Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An, Ha Long Bay, Nha Trang and the standard tourist route are essentially malaria-free, and antimalarial tablets are not recommended for them. Risk is limited to specific rural and forested areas, mainly in the central highlands and near the Cambodian and Laotian borders, and is higher at altitude below 1,500m in those regions.

So the question is your actual route, not the country. If tablets are indicated, they're assessed, prescribed and dispensed at the appointment — our clinic is run by an Independent Prescriber, so it's one visit rather than two.

**The practical bit**

Come in 4–6 weeks ahead if you can, because Japanese encephalitis and rabies are courses. Bring your route — north, centre, south, the Delta, the highlands — with rough dates, because the season matters as much as the region. If you're motorbiking, say so; it changes the rabies and the injury conversation both.

This guide is written and reviewed by the pharmacists who run the clinic, against current NaTHNaC and UKHSA Green Book guidance. It is general information, not a personal recommendation — your own risk assessment happens at the consultation.

Guidance we work from

Frequently Asked Questions