India is a famous tourist destination, since it has a diverse range of places to offer. Be it the historical The Taj Mahal, the Ajanta and Ellora caves, or one of the many picturesque hill stations located in the North, India has something for all travelers. With its rich and ancient culture and history, India remains one of the most visited places for tourists from all over the world. Whether you are taking a short vacation, a break from your work or you’re out on a spiritual journey- India has everything you will need. But, before visiting India lets check out some travel vaccinations.
As fun as travelling to India is, there are some things that you must keep in mind before embarking on your trip. There are some diseases and infections in India that are not part of other places in the world. Therefore, as a foreign tourist, you are probably not vaccinated against them, which put you in danger of contracting those diseases and infections. Therefore, you must get a set of travel vaccines before you travel to India. With this article, we will help you to figure out which travel vaccines you need for your trip to India.
According to CDC (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines, some vaccines are required for India. The WHO (World Health Organisation) and CDC together recommend getting vaccinated against the following g diseases before travelling to India:
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Travel Vaccinations Checklist while Travelling to India
| Disease | How it spreads |
| Japanese Encephalitis | Mosquito Borne |
| Typhoid | From contaminated food or water |
| Rabies | Infected animals, mostly rats |
| Measles, Mumps and Rubella | Various Vectors |
| Polio | Contaminated food or water |
| Influenza | Airborne droplets |
| Hepatitis A | Contaminated food or water |
| Hepatitis B | Contaminated fluids, such as from an infected needle or from sexual contact with an infected person. |
Apart from these vaccinations, you are required to stay up to date on your regular vaccines, which would include immunization against:
- measles
- mumps
- rubella
- chickenpox
- diphtheria
- pertussis
- polio
In addition to these, you might require a tetanus booster shot and a flu shot that is recent as well.
According to the CDC, you must start your vaccination at least a month or more before you start your trip so that the vaccines have time to get active in your system. You also will need to get some preventive medication against diseases that don’t have vaccines but are prevalent in India, such as malaria.
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Some mosquito borne diseases are common in India and you should get medicated against those if you are travelling to parts of India where these diseases are active:
Malaria: Antimalarial medicines are required for many parts of India
Dengue Fever: Dengue fever is another mosquito borne disease that affects millions in India, every year. There aren’t any vaccines for this disease, nor any medication specifically approved to fight against it. Therefore you must protect yourself against mosquito bites. Carry mosquito repellent creams and lotions with you, wear fully covered clothes and sleep inside mosquito nets if you are travelling to a rural area where mosquitoes are common.
To determine what vaccines you need, your health care provider will:
- Consider your current health and health history
- Review your immunization records
- Evaluate your itinerary
It is recommended that you stay up to date on your regular vaccines. Let your health care provider know about any allergies you have- it could be allergies to vaccines or to ingredients in them, but you must tell your health care provider to avoid any serious allergic reactions.
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Are these vaccines safe for pregnant women?
Vaccines normally do not pose any harm to the human body, except for a few mild side effects. However, whether a certain vaccine is safe for a pregnant woman or not depends on the type of vaccine. To play it safe, pregnant women should avoid live vaccines such as those for measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (chicken pox). Because these vaccines are made from live viruses, they could potentially infect you and your unborn baby with the disease. The CDC has received no reports of harm to babies whose mothers have accidentally gotten live vaccines. But information is limited, so it’s still a risk that expectant moms shouldn’t take. If you need a live vaccine, you’ll want to get it at least one month before you get pregnant. An exception to avoidance of live vaccines is the yellow fever vaccine, which is quite safe for pregnant women to get.
Some other vaccines, such as those for hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and tetanus, are safe and recommended for pregnant women who are at risk of getting these diseases, for example, if you’re travelling to India. There are two vaccines that you definitely should get during pregnancy: the Tdap (whooping cough) and the influenza vaccine (flu shot). These vaccines are recommended for pregnant women, even if they aren’t travelling.
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Travel Vaccinations for babies and toddlers
If you are travelling to Asia or parts of Africa, there are some diseases your child needs to be vaccinated against, apart from the regular diseases. This includes:
- Cholera and Traveler’s Diarrhea
- Hepatitis A
- Japanese Encephalitis
- Rabies
- Typhoid
- Yellow fever
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Vaccination against Yellow Fever
Yellow fever is not a threat for travel to India, but you may need to be vaccinated against Yellow Fever to be able to enter India, if you are travelling from a place where Yellow Fever is present. For example, if you are travelling from South American countries, you will need to show proof of vaccination against Yellow Fever.
Conclusion
There are some travel vaccines needed if you are traveling to India. These are mostly dependent on which place you are travelling to India, and which place you are traveling to India from. Apart from that, you also need to be vaccinated against any ongoing outbreak of a certain disease, if any. Therefore, make sure your vaccinations are up to date and contact your health care provider to check what vaccinations are required to keep you and your family completely safe while traveling to India.
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References
https://www.webmd.com/vaccines/vaccines-for-travel-to-india#1
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/traveler/none/india
