Travel health · Laos
Slow boats on the Mekong, limestone hills and lantern-lit towns — an easy country to travel through, with two serious warnings that have nothing to do with vaccines.
The short version
Most travellers to Laos need 5 vaccines, and four weeks is enough time to do it properly.
Leaving sooner? Most of it can still be done — we prioritise what matters for your route. Nobody gets turned away for booking late.
Recommended for essentially everyone going to Laos.
Food and water, and the vaccine both sources agree on without qualification. CDC recommends it for unvaccinated travellers aged one year and over going to Laos; the Government of Canada recommends vaccination for all travellers. Laos is a country you eat and drink your way through — this is what makes that comfortable.
Any time before you fly. One dose covers the trip; a second, six months later, covers decades.
The Government of Canada says one booster dose of polio vaccine is recommended as an adult for Laos, and that it should be recorded on an International Certificate of Vaccination. CDC puts it slightly more loosely: adults who completed a full childhood series may have a single lifetime booster, while anyone unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated should complete a full series before travel. Either way, most Canadian adults have never had the adult dose.
Same-day, once we have checked your record. Ask for the certificate while you are here.
Contaminated food and water again. CDC recommends it for most travellers to Laos, especially anyone staying with friends or relatives or visiting smaller cities and rural areas. The Government of Canada calls the risk low for most travellers. Given how much of a Laos itinerary is smaller towns and rural road, we usually lean towards giving it — and will say plainly when we think you can skip it.
At least two weeks ahead for the injection; the oral capsules take a week to finish.
Blood and bodily fluids, including unplanned medical or dental care — which carries more weight where the Government of Canada describes medical facilities as scarce and operating below the standards you would expect in Canada. It recommends the vaccine for all travellers; CDC for unvaccinated travellers younger than 60.
The standard course runs over months. Faster schedules exist — bring your dates.
Tetanus, measles-mumps-rubella, chickenpox, and the rest. CDC asks travellers to be current before every trip and asks all international travellers to be fully vaccinated against measles with MMR.
Tetanus if it has been more than ten years, which for most adults it has.
The honest answer to “am I too late?” depends on the date. Put yours in and we’ll work backwards. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Worth a conversation — the answer changes with where you’re going and what you’ll be doing.
The full list for Laos. Most people need the first two or three; the rest depend on where you are going and for how long.
Spread through contaminated food and water. CDC recommends it for unvaccinated travellers aged one year and over going to Laos; the Government of Canada recommends vaccination for all travellers. The two sources agree here without qualification, which is not true of everything below.
The vaccine most Canadian travellers to Laos have not thought about. The Government of Canada says one booster dose of polio vaccine is recommended as an adult and that it should be recorded on an International Certificate of Vaccination. CDC says adults who completed a full series in childhood may have a single lifetime booster dose, and that anyone unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated should complete a full series before travel. If you have never had a dose since school, this is almost certainly a yes.
Bacterial infection from contaminated food and water. Our sources part company: CDC recommends it for most travellers to Laos, especially those staying with friends or relatives or visiting smaller cities or rural areas, while the Government of Canada says the risk is low for most travellers. Available as an injection or oral capsules.
Spread through blood and bodily fluids — including unplanned medical or dental treatment, needles, tattooing and acupuncture, which the Government of Canada names specifically. It recommends the vaccine for all travellers; CDC for unvaccinated travellers younger than 60. Many Canadians already have it from the school programme, so we check the record first.
CDC asks travellers to be up to date before every trip and asks all international travellers to be fully vaccinated against measles with MMR. Tetanus is the one that lapses quietly, and the usual reason it comes up here is a scooter graze on a rough road.
CDC advises all eligible travellers to be up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines.
Mosquito-borne virus that can cause brain swelling. CDC recommends the vaccine for people relocating to Laos, spending a month or more in risk areas, or travelling there frequently, and says to consider it for shorter trips involving rural areas, hiking, camping, or accommodation without air conditioning or screens. It is not recommended for short-term travel to urban areas. The Government of Canada calls the risk very low for most travellers and higher for stays over 30 days, repeated trips, extended rural stays and outbreak periods. Two doses, 28 days apart.
The Government of Canada states that rabies is common in Laos, carried by dogs and some wildlife including bats, and adds that treatment may be limited or not available — which is the sentence that matters if you are far from Vientiane. CDC states that rabies-infected dogs are commonly found in Laos and frames pre-exposure vaccination around occupational or recreational activities that raise exposure risk. Both note it is almost always fatal once symptoms appear.
CDC says chikungunya vaccination is generally not recommended for Laos. The Government of Canada notes the disease is present and that a vaccine is approved in Canada, and asks travellers to discuss the benefits and risks with a provider. For most trips, mosquito precautions carry this one.
CDC states plainly that the vaccine is neither recommended nor required for Laos, and the Government of Canada says there is no risk of yellow fever in the country. It only becomes a question if Laos is one leg of a longer trip that includes a country where yellow fever occurs — in which case bring the whole itinerary.
Honest about the risks, and specific about what prevents each one.
The Government of Canada states that several foreigners in Vang Vieng have died or become severely ill from alcohol poisoning caused by suspected methanol-adulterated alcohol, and that Tiger brand vodka and whisky are prohibited and must not be bought or consumed. Methanol poisoning does not taste different and the symptoms can be delayed.
Prevention No free or extremely low-priced drinks. Buy only from licensed premises, in sealed containers you watch being opened. If you feel unwell after drinking, seek medical help immediately rather than sleeping it off.
The Government of Canada warns that some items sold to travellers — it names happy pizzas and special shakes — may contain unspecified amounts of opium and other unknown substances, and that foreigners, including Canadians, have died of drug overdoses. It also advises never leaving food or drink unattended. Separately, penalties for drug possession, use or trafficking are severe and may include the death penalty.
Prevention Do not order them. Do not accept food or drink from new acquaintances. Never carry a package for someone else.
CDC lists schistosomiasis, spread by wading, swimming, bathing or washing in contaminated fresh water; leptospirosis, from water or soil contaminated by infected animals; and melioidosis, from contaminated fresh water, mud or soil, especially after heavy rain. None has a vaccine.
Prevention Stay out of rivers, streams, ponds, lakes and untreated pools you cannot vouch for. Chlorinated pools and the sea are fine. Cover cuts and wash mud off promptly, particularly in the rainy season.
Both sources name dengue as a risk to travellers in Laos, and the Government of Canada notes there is no vaccine or medication for it available in Canada. The mosquitoes that carry it bite during the day, so evening-only precautions miss them.
Prevention DEET 20%+ or picaridin through the day, reapplied. Screened or air-conditioned rooms, and a net where there is neither.
CDC notes motor vehicle crashes are the number one killer of healthy travellers abroad. The Government of Canada describes road conditions in Laos as poor, with insufficient lighting, unpaved roads, poorly maintained vehicles and stray livestock, and says drivers do not always respect traffic laws and can be aggressive and reckless.
Prevention Daylight travel on main roads. A proper helmet on any motorbike. Check your travel insurance actually covers motorbike accidents before you rent one.
The Government of Canada states that landmines and unexploded ordnance pose a risk throughout the country, and particularly at the Plain of Jars, in Xiengkhouang province and in the Lao–Vietnam border areas.
Prevention Stay on main roads and marked paths. Avoid walking in fields, rural areas and roadside ditches. Cross borders only at official crossings.
The Government of Canada calls rabies common in Laos, carried by dogs and some wildlife including bats, and notes that treatment may be limited or not available. CDC states rabies-infected dogs are commonly found in the country.
Prevention Do not touch animals. Wash any bite or scratch with soap and water for 15 minutes and seek care immediately, vaccinated or not. Keep records of any treatment you receive abroad — the Government of Canada asks for that specifically.
The Government of Canada describes medical facilities as scarce and below Canadian standards, with complex cases requiring medical evacuation to Thailand, and states that evacuation can be very expensive and difficult to organise.
Prevention Insurance that names medical evacuation and hospital stays. Policy number saved offline. Enough of your own medication for the whole trip, in labelled packaging.
Laos overall sits at "exercise a high degree of caution" with regional advisories. The Government of Canada advises avoiding non-essential travel to Xaisomboun province because of a tense security situation and random shooting incidents, and to the areas of Bokeo province within 10 km of the Myanmar and Thailand borders, including the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, because of criminal activity.
Prevention Check your route against the current advisory on travel.gc.ca before you book, not after. Levels change.
The Government of Canada notes that human cases of avian influenza have been reported in Laos and advises avoiding contact with birds and making sure poultry is thoroughly cooked.
Prevention Stay out of live-poultry and wet markets. Cook poultry and eggs through. Wash hands after any animal contact.
The Government of Canada says street crime is prevalent, with thieves on motorcycles grabbing bags and valuables, distraction thefts by pairs, break-ins at hotels and guesthouses, and occasional armed robberies and violent muggings in major cities.
Prevention Nothing medical here — carry bags on the wall side, keep passports secured, and avoid walking alone after dark.
Prevented with tablets rather than a vaccine, and only needed for some routes — which is why the answer depends on your itinerary.
CDC places transmission in the southern part of the country — the provinces of Attapeu, Champasak, Khammouane, Salavan, Savannakhet and Sekong. It records rare cases in the northern part of the country, and none in the cities of Luang Prabang or Vientiane. The Government of Canada frames it more generally as a risk in certain areas and at certain times of year, with antimalarial medication possibly recommended depending on itinerary and season. In plain terms: the northern loop most Canadians book does not need tablets; the far south usually does.
For the southern provinces CDC recommends atovaquone-proguanil, doxycycline or tafenoquine. Chloroquine and mefloquine are both recorded as resistant in Laos, so neither is used. For the northern areas, where cases are rare, CDC recommends no tablets at all — insect-bite precautions and mosquito avoidance only. Worth knowing: CDC puts the parasite mix at roughly 55% P. vivax and 45% P. falciparum, a much larger falciparum share than neighbouring Cambodia, and tafenoquine requires a G6PD blood test before it can be prescribed. That test takes time, which is the practical reason to come in four weeks ahead rather than four days.
The things that prevent most travel illness are not medical.
The Government of Canada states that several foreigners in Vang Vieng have died or become severely ill from alcohol poisoning caused by suspected methanol-adulterated alcohol. It goes further than almost any advisory we cite on this site and names a product: do not purchase or consume Tiger brand vodka and whisky, which are prohibited. Its other advice is practical — avoid free or extremely low-priced drinks, buy only from licensed establishments and in sealed containers, and seek medical help immediately if you begin to feel unwell. Separately, it warns that some food and drinks sold to travellers, including so-called happy pizzas and special shakes, may contain unspecified amounts of opium and other unknown substances, and that foreigners, including Canadians, have died of drug overdoses. There is no vaccine for any of this, no tablet we can prescribe against it, and nothing in your travel insurance that undoes it. It is the single most useful paragraph on this page.
CDC places malaria transmission in the southern part of the country — the provinces of Attapeu, Champasak, Khammouane, Salavan, Savannakhet and Sekong. It describes rare cases in the north, and none at all in the cities of Luang Prabang and Vientiane. For the northern loop most Canadians book, that means no tablets. For the far south — Si Phan Don, the Bolaven Plateau, the road towards Cambodia — it usually means yes. The drug list is not the same as neighbouring Cambodia’s: CDC records chloroquine and mefloquine resistance in Laos and recommends atovaquone-proguanil, doxycycline or tafenoquine for the southern provinces, and no tablets at all for the northern areas, where insect-bite precautions carry it. The parasite mix is also nearly even — CDC puts it at about 55% P. vivax and 45% P. falciparum, so falciparum is far more of the picture here than it is next door. Bring your route and we will draw the line on it.
Three places, and we would rather show you than pick. Typhoid: CDC recommends it for most travellers to Laos; the Government of Canada says the risk is low for most travellers. Hepatitis B: the Government of Canada recommends it for all travellers, CDC for unvaccinated travellers younger than 60 — so a healthy 65-year-old gets a different answer depending on which page they read. Chikungunya: CDC says vaccination is generally not recommended for Laos, while the Government of Canada notes the disease is present and that a vaccine is approved in Canada. And on polio the usual pattern reverses — the Canadian wording is the firmer of the two. Our pharmacist reads both and applies them to your actual trip; that conversation is the point of the appointment.
This is the part travellers to Laos most often miss. CDC lists schistosomiasis, which is caught by wading, swimming, bathing or washing in contaminated fresh water — streams, rivers, ponds, lakes and untreated pools — and its advice is simply to stay out of it. It also lists leptospirosis, from contact with water or soil contaminated by animal urine, and melioidosis, from contaminated fresh water, mud or soil, especially after heavy rain. Laos is a country of rivers, waterfalls, tubing and rainy-season mud, so this is not a theoretical list. Chlorinated pools and salt water are fine. Fresh water you cannot vouch for is not, and no vaccine covers any of the three.
The Government of Canada describes medical facilities throughout Laos as scarce and operating below the standards you might expect in Canada, with basic care available in Vientiane and Luang Prabang and complex cases needing medical evacuation to Thailand. The sentence that matters is the next one: medical evacuation can be very expensive and difficult to organise. "Difficult to organise" is a different problem from "expensive" and no amount of coverage fixes it quickly. So: insurance that names medical evacuation and hospital stays explicitly, the policy number saved somewhere you can reach without data, and enough of your own regular medication for the whole trip. Also worth knowing before you walk off a path — the Government of Canada notes landmines and unexploded ordnance throughout the country, particularly at the Plain of Jars, in Xiengkhouang province and along the Lao–Vietnam border areas.
Most people booking a travel consult with us are sorting out a household, not just themselves. A few things are different for children.
Bring the whole household to the same consultation. We review each person’s records separately but plan the trip as one, which usually means fewer visits and no repeated explanations. Tell us how many people when you book so we set aside the time.
CDC recommends hepatitis A vaccination for unvaccinated travellers aged one year and over going to Laos, and notes that infants aged 6 to 11 months are also eligible for a travel dose. That earlier dose does not count towards the routine schedule and is repeated later. Bring your child’s age in months.
The Government of Canada names children among those for whom rabies vaccination may be recommended, and states that rabies is common in Laos and that treatment may be limited or not available. Small children approach animals, are less likely to report a lick or a scratch, and are more often bitten on the face or hands. For a longer or more rural trip this is worth deciding per child.
Waterfalls and river pools are the best afternoons in Laos and the hardest rule to enforce. CDC lists schistosomiasis from contaminated fresh water, plus leptospirosis and melioidosis from water, mud and soil. Chlorinated pools are the easy substitute, and worth choosing accommodation for.
Any immunisation records you can find, for each traveller — the polio history especially, since that is the one we are most likely to act on here. Alberta records we can often look up; out-of-province and overseas records we cannot. A photo of a yellow card is plenty.
With care, and this is the warning we would give you before any vaccine. The Government of Canada states that several foreigners in Vang Vieng have died or become severely ill from suspected methanol-adulterated alcohol, and that Tiger brand vodka and whisky are prohibited and should not be bought or consumed. Avoid free or very cheap drinks, buy only from licensed premises in sealed containers, and if you feel unwell after drinking, seek medical help straight away rather than waiting it out.
No. CDC states there is no malaria transmission in either city, and describes cases in the northern part of the country as rare, with no tablets recommended there. Malaria risk sits in the six southern provinces — Attapeu, Champasak, Khammouane, Salavan, Savannakhet and Sekong. If your route goes south, we prescribe; if it does not, we say so.
Because both sources ask for it and most Canadian adults have never had one. The Government of Canada says one booster dose of polio vaccine is recommended as an adult for this destination and should be recorded on an International Certificate of Vaccination. CDC says adults who completed a full childhood series may have a single lifetime booster, and that anyone unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated should complete a full series before travel. It is a same-day vaccine — we check your record and give it while you are here.
Not in fresh water you cannot vouch for. CDC lists schistosomiasis in Laos, which is caught by wading, swimming, bathing or washing in contaminated fresh water, alongside leptospirosis and melioidosis from contaminated water, mud and soil after heavy rain. None of the three has a vaccine, so avoidance is the whole strategy. Chlorinated pools and salt water are fine.
No. CDC states that yellow fever vaccine is neither recommended nor required for Laos, and the Government of Canada says there is no risk of the disease in the country. It only becomes a question if Laos is one leg of a longer trip that passes through a country where yellow fever occurs — bring the full itinerary and we will check.
You will probably need to leave the country for care. The Government of Canada describes medical facilities as scarce and operating below the standards you would expect in Canada, with basic care in Vientiane and Luang Prabang and complex cases requiring medical evacuation to Thailand — and it adds that evacuation can be very expensive and difficult to organise. Buy insurance that names medical evacuation and hospital stays specifically, and carry enough of your own medication for the whole trip.
Yes, and most families do. We review each person’s records separately but plan the trip as one visit — tell us how many are travelling when you book so we set aside enough time. Hepatitis A can be given from twelve months, and the Government of Canada names children among those for whom rabies vaccination may be recommended, which is worth going through child by child.
Nothing. The travel consultation is free — a full review of your itinerary, every recommended vaccine discussed, and advice for your particular route. You pay only for the vaccines actually given. No doctor’s referral is needed; in Alberta a pharmacist can assess, prescribe and vaccinate in the same visit.
Bring your travel dates. A pharmacist will go through what you need for Laos, give what can be given that day, and book anything that needs a second dose. No doctor referral, no wait list.
Written from current CDC and Government of Canada guidance, checked 31 July 2026. Advice for your particular trip comes from our pharmacist, in person.
Imagine Health Pharmacy & Travel Clinic — #4120, 15 Sunpark Plaza SE, Calgary, Alberta. In Sunpark Plaza, off Macleod Trail, serving Sundance, Midnapore, Shawnessy, Chaparral and the rest of south Calgary.
No doctor’s referral is needed. In Alberta a pharmacist can assess you, prescribe what your trip needs and give the vaccines in the same visit — so for most travellers this is one appointment, not a clinic queue and then a pharmacy.
The vaccine guidance on this page follows the official recommendations below, read and applied by a pharmacist. Where the two differ we say so rather than pick one.
Checked against both sources on 31 July 2026. Official advice changes — if your trip is months away, check again or ask us.
