Planning to travel abroad? Here's how to get immunizations, prescriptions, and advice tailored to your destination.
Eligibility
UHS Travel Health Services are available to the following:
- Enrolled students
- Faculty and staff
- Individuals who have a UHS primary care physician (PCP)
Costs for Travel Health Visits
- Enrolled students: free travel consultation
- Faculty, staff, alumni, and non-students: $100 fee for travel consultation
- In addition:
- Immunization costs will be billed to insurance. If insurance does not cover the costs, patients will be responsible.
- Prescriptions for travel meds will be written if necessary. Patients can provide their insurance information to their pharmacy to check for coverage.
- Over-the-counter medications will be recommended to purchase.
- Supplies will be recommended for your trip.
Is your department paying for some or all travel costs? If so, you will need to bring documentation from your department including their shortcode for billing. Any charges not covered by your department will be your responsibility.
Step 1. Learn recommendations/requirements and prepare
Plan ahead! You'll need to:
- Learn any visa and U-M program requirements.
- Locate your immunization records, because you be asked to submit them electronically. You many need to check with your parents, doctor, or state health department for your records.
- Schedule early (6-8 weeks before departure) because:
- There is considerable demand for appointments, especially before peak travel times (December, before Spring Break, April, and May).
- All immunizations take two weeks to reach optimum effectiveness, and some are given in series.
- Check insurance coverage for vaccines by calling customer service on the back of your card and ask them the questions on the How UHS Works with Insurance webpage while referring to Prices for Immunizations (PDF).
Wondering what UHS nurses might recommend? For general recommendations, you could look up your destination(s) on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention travel website.
Step 2. Call UHS or send a message in your patient portal to your PCP to set up a travel appointment
- When scheduling, you will be sent a questionnaire through your portal to complete at least 7 days before your visit. Failure to do so may result in the cancellation of your appointment.
- You will be asked to respond to the portal message with an attachment of your immunization records.
Step 3. Learn how to stay safe and healthy while traveling
We encourage you to learn about travel health through these two site:
UHS Travel Health Education Program
Step 4. At your visit
Bring to your visit:
- Any health forms you need to have completed
- Your immunization records if you have not already submitted them
If you need prescriptions or other products, allow time to visit the UHS Pharmacy. The Pharmacy sells the following non-prescription travel-related products:
- Imodium AD® caplets, generic, for diarrhea
- Pepto-Bismol® liquid and tablets, generic, for diarrhea, nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach
- Ultrathon™ insect repellant lotion, contains 34% DEET, repels mosquitos, biting flies, chiggers, fleas, deer, and stable flies
- Permanone® spray, insect repellant against mosquitoes and ticks, for clothing and gear
- Sawyer® clothing treatment kit, soak to repel and kill mosquitoes, ticks, chiggers, mites
- Mobasa Defender™, a personal mosquito net pretreated with repellant
- Sunscreen - Solbar®
Additional information
From UHS:
- Travel Health Checklist
- Travel Abroad Health Insurance
- For Travel Coordinators for information about group clinics and more
Other local travel health providers:
- Passport Health, 248-851-5633, 2008 Hogback Drive Suite 1, Ann Arbor, MI 48105
- The CVS Minute Clinic (866-389-2727, 209 S. State St, Ann Arbor) and Walgreens Pharmacy (734-352-3623, 317 S. State St, Ann Arbor) provide some immunizations, however, they don't have some such as yellow fever, and they cannot prescribe medications such as antimalarials.
