“Bangkok again?!” was the common response after we told everyone where our first stop would be as we embarked on our ‘travelling…indefinitely’ adventure. It’s no secret that we love this city, but aside from the orgy of street food and frantic city life we couldn’t wait to get back into, there was another very practical reason why we chose Bangkok as our first stop. Travel vaccinations.
The cost of getting all the shots we needed to travel around South East Asia and South America before we left Australia would have cost us in the vicinity of $750USD per person, cha ching! So it made sense to spend $169USD to fly to Bangkok from Melbourne and spend approximately $100USD to obtain all our travel jabs plus start our new life from our favourite city.
Now why is it so cheap you ask, and is it dodgy? Nope. The reason the travel vaccinations are a lot cheaper than in the West is because many of the vaccines are part of the national immunisation programme and are administered to all Thais. The country purchases these vaccines on a much larger scale than countries in the West where these vaccines aren’t common which means they cost less. The Thai Travel Clinic is part of the Hospital of Tropical Diseases which is overseen by the Faculty of Tropical University at Mahidol University. Don’t fear- it’s not some dingy clinic in a back alley in the outskirts of the city!
So what’s the process?
- Book an appointment online at http://www.thaitravelclinic.com/ or just turn up at the clinic- they take walk-ins until about 3:00pm. Take your travel vaccination records with you.
- Show up at the clinic (see directions below) and fill in the required paperwork.
- You will have a mandatory consultation with a doctor where you’ll discuss what vaccinations you need.
- Pay for your vaccinations (they take credit cards).
- Get jabbed!
- Wait for 30 minutes in the clinic to make sure all is well and you’re done!
EASY!!
The list of vaccinations available and their cost is on the website but the doctor will advise what you will need based on where you will be travelling to. We got 5 travel vaccinations in total including Japanese Encephalitis, Yellow Fever, rabies, tetanus and diptheria and typhoid. Note that some jabs require several doses for example Hepatitis B and rabies. We knew we wanted to get rabies shots which requires you to have shots on days 0, 7 and 28 so we planned our time in Bangkok accordingly (leaving after day 7 for travel in Vietnam before returning to Bangkok for the final vaccination).
How to get there
You can take a taxi but BTS is a convenient and cheap option too:
- Take BTS to Victory Monument station.
- Get off at Victory Monument station and take exit 3.
- Walk along beside Rajavithi hospital on Rajavithi Rd.
- The Hospital for Tropical Diseases will be on your left approximately 10 minutes from the BTS- it is well sign posted.
- The Thai Travel Clinic is on Level 3.
Clinic Opening hours
Monday to Friday 8.00am to 3.00pm (for walk-in clients)
Monday to Friday 8.00am to 4.00pm (by Appointment)
Extended service on Saturday 9.00am-12.00am (Walk-in and by Appointment)
Have more questions? Comment below and we’ll get back to you pronto!
NB: All $ amounts listed are per person.
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