Travellers should ideally present for pre-travel advice about 6-8 weeks prior to departure, this will allow time to receive full courses of advised vaccines, travel health guidance and malaria recommendations.

Some single vaccines such as Hepatitis A and Typhoid can take up to 2 weeks to give protective levels. Yellow Fever takes 10 days to be effective. Booster doses of most vaccines will boost protective levels normally within 24-48 hours, with the exception of Typhoid which takes up to 2 weeks to be effective each time you have it.

However, even for last-minute travellers, there is still a benefit for considering having vaccines that would be recommended for your destination. It’s never too late to start malaria tablets, some malaria tablets can be started a couple of days before you go to a risk area.