Online travel care with a doctor you choose

Travelers' medical care is a branch of medicine that focuses on preventive pre-travel health care. At HealthTap, we offer services that keep people safe as they travel, whether across the state, the country or the entire world.

Travel medicine often includes recommended travel vaccines uniquely catered to protect patients against the infectious diseases they may encounter on their journey and at their eventual destination.

Common immunizations that are recommended for travel, especially to particular destinations in international travel, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) include:

• Dengue fever
• Hepatitis A
• Hepatitis B
• Japanese encephalitis
• MMR (measles, mumps, rubella)
• Polio
• Rabies
• Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis)
• Typhoid
• Yellow fever

While some of these recommended vaccines are routinely given as part of most people's childhood vaccine series, others can be ordered by a doctor like ours at HealthTap, or performed at a local health department.

Travel medicine also includes ensuring patients have the proper paperwork they need to travel. The vaccine requirements will vary from country to country, so patients should make sure they do their research and get any travel vaccinations with enough time to spare.

Our doctors at HealthTap can also guide you in learning what you may need. If an official travel vaccination card is needed, a traveler can ask for such a card at an in-person travel vaccine clinic or public health clinic.

Visitors from outside the country do not get free medical treatment while in the United States, so it is strongly recommended that they purchase travel insurance. However, healthcare is usually available if the patient is willing to pay for their expenses out-of-pocket.

Telehealth apps like HealthTap are an excellent option for foreign visitors, as they are easy to download and provide quick access to care. Using HealthTap for minor illnesses is also far less stressful than searching for an appropriate clinic or hospital, especially for people who may be unfamiliar with the area they're staying in.

While the types of injuries and illnesses people will encounter depend on where in the country (or world) they visit, a few health issues are more likely to occur than others.

For example, people traveling long distances in a closed form of transportation, like a train or an airplane, are at a higher risk of catching a cold, the flu or COVID. Travelers' diarrhea is also very common, caused by food poisoning, unsafe water or just new and unusual cuisine.

People spending time on a boat (like a cruise ship) are also at a higher risk of developing “sea sickness,” which can easily impact a vacation. In addition to ordering travel vaccinations, our doctors may also be able to prescribe preventive medications, such as a medicated skin patch, to minimize the risk of feeling seasick before it strikes.