If you are currently having chemotherapy or any other immunosuppressive cancer treatment (or have had this in the last six months), or if you have had a transplant, your immune system will be too weak to have a live vaccine. In the UK, live vaccines include those for yellow fever, BCG (tuberculosis), oral typhoid, shingles, measles, rubella (German measles) and the MMR jab (for measles, mumps and rubella). Travelling to certain countries requires you to have up-to-date immunisation against some of these infections, such as Brazil and yellow fever, at the time of publication of this article.
Other vaccinations are known as ‘inactivated’ as they contain a killed virus or bacteria. These are safe to have if you have a weakened immune system, although they may not work as well as they should. Inactivated vaccines include flu, hepatitis A and B, rabies, cholera, typhoid, the combined vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus and polio, meningitis, tick born encephalitis and Japanese encephalitis.
Travelling to certain areas in some tropical countries can also mean protecting yourself against malaria and other diseases that are spread by mosquitos, such as dengue fever and the zika virus. Rather than an injection, anti-malarial medication comes in the form of tablets that you may need to start taking before your trip, during your trip and for several weeks afterwards. Your doctor can tell you whether you need to take them, and if so, when to start and when to stop.
You can also use the Travel Health Pro website to find out which vaccinations or tablets you need, if any, to visit your chosen destination. Cancer Research UK also has some useful information about travel vaccinations.
