Planning international travel involves more than booking flights, packing luggage and checking passport requirements. Your health before, during and after travel depends on making informed decisions about vaccine recommendations, disease risks at your destination, travel medications, medical precautions, personal health factors, and potential vaccine risks and benefits.
Many travellers ask: should I visit a travel medicine clinic, or simply get my travel vaccines at a pharmacy? The answer depends on the level of care you are looking for.
While community pharmacies play an important role in healthcare and many pharmacists provide excellent vaccination services, travel medicine is a specialized discipline that requires dedicated training, experience and ongoing awareness of global health risks. At Destinations Travel & Immunization Clinic (DTC), travel medicine is not an additional service — it is our specialty.
Travel Medicine Is Not Just About Administering Vaccines
A travel vaccine is only one component of a complete travel health assessment. A qualified travel medicine consultation evaluates:
- Where you are travelling
- Length of stay
- Purpose of travel
- Accommodation type
- Planned activities
- Season of travel
- Previous immunizations
- Medical conditions
- Current medications
- Age-related risks
- Potential vaccine benefits and risks
The same destination can create very different health considerations depending on the traveller. For example, a healthy young adult backpacking through rural areas, a family visiting relatives overseas, a senior travelling on a cruise, a patient with diabetes travelling for pilgrimage, and an individual taking immune-modifying medications may all require different recommendations.
Travel medicine is personalized medicine.
The Difference Between Vaccination Services and Travel Medicine Expertise
Many healthcare professionals can administer vaccines. However, travel medicine requires a broader body of knowledge. A travel medicine practitioner must understand global infectious diseases, international travel requirements, vaccine schedules, contraindications and precautions, drug interactions, malaria prevention strategies, food and water safety, insect-borne illnesses, outbreak patterns, and post-travel illness evaluation.
A vaccine appointment alone may not identify important travel-related risks.
Specialized Training Matters: The Importance of Travel Medicine Certification
Internationally recognized travel medicine training helps ensure practitioners have the foundational knowledge required to provide appropriate pre-travel care. The International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM) offers the Certificate in Travel Health (CTH) examination, which evaluates knowledge in areas such as travel-related infections, vaccines, malaria prevention, environmental risks, travel health preparation, and public health considerations.
In several Canadian provinces, pharmacists who provide travel medicine services are required or encouraged to complete recognized travel medicine training, including the ISTM CTH certification.
While certification alone does not guarantee clinical competence, it demonstrates that the practitioner has studied the recognized body of knowledge required for travel medicine practice. Without appropriate education and experience, there is a risk that healthcare providers may not recognize gaps in their own knowledge — sometimes described as “they don’t know what they don’t know.” In healthcare, recognizing the limits of one’s knowledge is an important part of patient safety.
Ontario’s Changing Travel Medicine Landscape
Ontario currently has a growing number of healthcare providers offering travel vaccines, including pharmacies. However, unlike some jurisdictions, Ontario does not have the same level of mandatory travel medicine certification requirements for pharmacists providing these services. This creates variability in the level of travel health expertise available to patients.
Some travel vaccine services may be delivered through limited travel health training, protocol-based approaches, or medical directives from remote physicians or nurse practitioners. While these models may be appropriate in certain situations, they may not always provide the same depth of individualized travel risk assessment as a dedicated travel medicine clinic.
The question every traveller should ask is: am I receiving a vaccine, or am I receiving comprehensive travel health care?
Informed Consent: Understanding Benefits and Risks Before Vaccination
Recent events highlight why proper travel health assessment and informed consent are essential. In 2026, the Alberta College of Pharmacy reminded pharmacists of the importance of ensuring patients receive current risk information before vaccination, after a senior patient became seriously ill following an IXCHIQ (chikungunya) vaccine. Health Canada had previously issued safety information regarding the increased risk of serious adverse reactions in medically frail adults aged 65 and older with multiple chronic conditions.
The Alberta College of Pharmacy emphasized that healthcare professionals must ensure patients understand the benefits of vaccination, potential risks, relevant safety information, and whether the vaccine is appropriate based on their individual health status.
This case reinforces an important principle: a safe vaccine decision requires more than asking “do you want the vaccine?” It requires asking “is this vaccine appropriate for this specific traveller?”
Travel Medicine Requires Clinical Judgment
A travel medicine specialist does not simply follow a destination checklist. They consider:
The traveller — age, medical history, pregnancy status, immune function, medications, previous vaccine history.
The journey — destination, duration, activities, rural vs urban travel, local disease patterns.
The intervention — vaccine recommendations, timing, risks and benefits, alternative strategies.
This individualized approach helps ensure travellers make informed choices.
Why Choose DTC?
At Destinations Travel & Immunization Clinic, travel medicine is our primary focus. Our goal is not simply to provide vaccines — it is to prepare you for the health challenges associated with international travel. DTC provides comprehensive travel risk assessments, destination-specific vaccine recommendations, travel medication planning, personalized health advice, disease prevention strategies, and guidance for leisure, business, family and adventure travel.
Your Health Is Part of Your Travel Plans
A passport gets you across borders. A travel health plan helps you return home healthy.
Before your next international trip, choose a provider whose primary focus is travel medicine. Choose expertise. Choose preparation. Choose informed healthcare decisions.
Book With Destinations Travel and Immunization Clinic
Destinations Travel & Immunization Clinic (DTC) — Travel Healthy. Travel Prepared. Travel With Confidence.
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The medical information on this site is provided as an information resource only and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information does not substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment. Please do not initiate, modify, or discontinue any treatment, medication, or supplement solely based on this information. Always seek the advice of your health care provider first. Full Disclaimer