Vaccinations for Vietnam

This is not medical advice. We are travellers writing what we have seen and what travel clinics typically recommend. Talk to one before you fly — they will look at your specific itinerary, age, history and current outbreaks.

That said, here is the practical landscape so you can show up to that appointment with intelligent questions.

What Vietnam requires for entry

For arrivals from most countries: nothing. There is no vaccine certificate check at Vietnamese borders in 2026.

The exception is yellow fever, which is required only if you are arriving from or have recently transited a yellow-fever-endemic country (most of sub-Saharan Africa and parts of South America). If that is your route, carry the yellow card. Otherwise it is not relevant.

What travel clinics typically recommend

Vaccine	Who should consider it	Notes
Hepatitis A	Almost everyone	Food and water transmission; two doses, second one boosts long-term protection
Typhoid	Most travellers	Oral or injection; effective for ~3 years
Hepatitis B	Anyone staying longer than a month, or with potential medical exposure	Usually combined with Hep A as Twinrix
Japanese Encephalitis	Rural travellers, long-stay, rice-paddy areas in the wet season	Mosquito-borne; rare but serious
Rabies pre-exposure	Long-stay, motorbikers, anyone working with animals, kids	Three-dose course; does not remove the need for post-exposure shots, but simplifies them
Tetanus / diphtheria / polio booster	If your last one is over 10 years ago	Standard
MMR	If not already immune	Measles outbreaks do happen in Southeast Asia
Influenza	Seasonal	Vietnam has a year-round flu season

Vaccines recommended goes deeper on each of these once you have a clinic appointment lined up.

What about COVID, dengue and malaria?

COVID — no vaccination requirement for entry as of 2026. Stay up to date as you would at home.

Dengue — no widely-available vaccine for first-time-exposure travellers. The Qdenga vaccine is approved in several countries but is normally only given to people who have already had dengue once. Prevention is mosquito avoidance. See dengue fever for what symptoms to watch for.

Malaria — not a meaningful risk in the main tourist regions of Vietnam (cities, beach destinations, the Red River and Mekong deltas, the central coast, Sapa). It remains present in some remote forested areas near the Cambodian and Laotian borders and in parts of the central highlands below 1,500m. If your itinerary takes you deep into those areas, ask your clinic about prophylaxis. For 95% of visitors no malaria pills are needed.

Where to get vaccinated in Vietnam

If you forgot something at home or are extending your trip, you can vaccinate in-country at:

• VNVC — the dominant private vaccine chain, branches in every major city, walk-in or app-booked. English-speaking staff in HCMC and Hanoi locations. Prices in line with Western private clinics.
• Family Medical Practice — HCMC, Hanoi, Da Nang. Foreigner-focused, expensive, very smooth.
• Raffles Medical — HCMC. Singaporean chain.

Rabies pre-exposure at VNVC runs about 1.2 million VND (~50 USD) for the three-dose course. Hep A is around 800,000đ a dose. Bring your existing vaccine records so they can stamp them.

What you do not need to bring

• A yellow-fever card, unless you came from an endemic country.
• Your own needles. The clinics here are clean.
• Tropical superstition. Vietnam is a normal middle-income country with good private healthcare in cities.

The honest realistic minimum

For a one-week city trip in Hanoi, Hoi An, HCMC: an up-to-date routine schedule (tetanus, MMR, polio) plus Hep A is what most travel clinics will land on. Add typhoid if you are eating widely at street stalls.

For a one-month trip including rural travel or motorbike loops: add Hep B, JE if visiting paddy areas in summer, and rabies pre-exposure if you are riding a motorbike anywhere there are stray dogs (so, anywhere outside the city centres).

For a one-year+ stay: the full long-stay schedule including rabies pre-exposure, both hepatitis vaccines, JE, and your boosters in order. Get this sorted before you fly — it is cheaper and quicker than catching up in-country.

If a dog or monkey bites or scratches you in Vietnam, wash the wound with soap and water for 15 minutes and get to a clinic for post-exposure rabies vaccination within 24 hours. Even if you had pre-exposure shots. This is not optional — rabies, once symptomatic, is 100% fatal.

After the trip — when to call your doctor

If you develop unexplained fever, jaundice, severe diarrhoea or unusual symptoms within four weeks of leaving Vietnam, tell whoever sees you that you have been in Southeast Asia. Conditions like dengue and typhoid have incubation periods that outlast your flight home.

Bundle your vaccine appointment with your travel insurance purchase. Many policies want to see you have had "advised" shots before they cover related illness.