Vaccines needed for international travel now available in Wilmington

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY)– When traveling abroad, international vaccines are recommended, depending on the country you’re visiting. 

It’s a service New Hanover County Health and Human Services says has been highly requested. 

“The past two summers that I’ve worked in the vaccine clinic, people have been requesting these vaccines and wanting to get out there and travel abroad more, and we would have to refer them to other places because we didn’t have them available,” said Colleen Applewhite, Public Health Nurse Team Leader at Health and Human Services. 

In the past, people from our area who needed these vaccines would have to make a special trip to other cities. 

“They haven’t been able to have access to that locally before because they would have to travel to Cary, Myrtle Beach, or Onslow County’s health department. So, we’re really excited to be able to present this to our community,” said Applewhite.  

Since the county announced this new service last week, Health and Human Services has already received eighteen requests for appointments.

Tiffany Wright with AAA of the Carolinas says now that this is being offered, the number of people looking to travel internationally may increase.     

“By having a service like this, it makes it more convenient for people so it’s not as much of a headache with ‘I have to do this’ or ‘I have to go here’ but now it’s right here in their own backyard. I think this is going to make people travel with more confidence and people will be more willing to travel internationally,” said Wright. 

The clinic will provide a variety of vaccines including yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, rabies, typhoid fever, and many other routine vaccinations.  

The clinic will begin seeing patients by appointment only on Tuesday May 9th. 

If you are interested in making an appointment, you can do so online or in person at New Hanover County Health and Human Services.