Travel vaccination
Typhoid Vaccine in Epsom
Typhoid is caught from food and water contaminated with the bacteria, and it's one of the more common infections UK travellers bring home. Cases reached their highest recorded level in 2024, and most of them were in people who'd been visiting family in India, Pakistan or Bangladesh.
- Registered Yellow Fever Vaccination Centre
- GPhC premises 9011598
Recommendations depend on your itinerary, health history and current guidance.
NaTHNaC Registered Yellow Fever Vaccination Centre
A Yellow Fever Vaccination Centre on the NaTHNaC register, and the same travel clinic that gives your other vaccinations.
GPhC registered premises
9011598
Private and NHS pharmacy services from one registered pharmacy in Ewell, Epsom.
In short
Miles Pharmacy in Epsom gives the typhoid vaccine for £49, including the consultation: one injection, at least two weeks before you travel, lasting three years. It's recommended for most travellers to India and Pakistan, particularly anyone visiting family.
- Lasts
- Three years one injection, from age 2
- Before travel
- Two weeks at least; sooner is still worth having
- Price
- £49 one dose
What typhoid is
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How you catch it
By swallowing food or water contaminated with the bacteria, often through poor sanitation, unwashed hands during food preparation, or raw produce washed in unsafe water.
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Symptoms
A fever that climbs over several days, headache, aches, tiredness, stomach pain, and constipation or diarrhoea. It can look like flu at first, and often starts one to three weeks after exposure.
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Why it matters
Untreated, it can cause serious complications including internal bleeding and a perforated bowel. Treated promptly with the right antibiotic, most people recover well.
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Paratyphoid
A similar illness caused by a related bacterium. There's no vaccine for it, and it accounts for a large share of UK cases, which is why hygiene still matters after vaccination.
Who's most at risk
- Visiting friends and relatives
- Most UK cases are in people visiting family on the Indian subcontinent: India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Longer stays, home cooking and local water all play a part, and people often don't think of themselves as needing travel health advice.
- Where else
- Typhoid occurs across much of South and South-East Asia, Africa, and parts of Central and South America. The same trips can call for rabies vaccination and malaria tablets too, depending on where you're going.
- Antibiotic resistance
- Drug-resistant typhoid is a growing problem across South Asia, and Pakistan has had an outbreak of extensively drug-resistant typhoid since 2016. That means fewer antibiotics work, which makes avoiding the infection in the first place more valuable.
- Children
- Children visiting family are at real risk, and the vaccine can be given from age 2, or from 12 months where the risk is judged high.
The vaccine: one injection, three years
- How it's given
- The typhoid jab is a single injection into the upper arm, from age 2.
- When
- At least two weeks before you travel. If you're flying sooner, it can still be worth having, and we'll explain what protection you'd realistically have.
- How long it lasts
- About three years. If you're still travelling to risk areas after that, you need another dose.
- How well it works
- It reduces your risk substantially but doesn't remove it, and it offers nothing against paratyphoid. Food and water care is part of the protection, not an optional extra.
- Typhoid tablets (capsules) instead of the jab
- There's a live oral vaccine taken as three capsules on alternate days, from age 6. Supply in the UK is variable and it usually has to be ordered specially. It isn't suitable for anyone with a weakened immune system, and antibiotics and some malaria tablets stop it working.
- With other vaccines
- It can be given at the same appointment as your other travel vaccines, including hepatitis B. If you need hepatitis A vaccination too, we give the two as separate injections at the same appointment.
What it costs
Price
| Vaccine | What that covers | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Typhoid | Single dose | £49 |
One price, paid when you book.
Work it out
Are you still covered?
Enter the date of your last typhoid vaccination and this tells you when it runs out.
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Call us on 020 8393 1000Your answer
Put in the date of your last dose and your cover date appears here.
- I know when I had it
- The date three years on, and whether you need another before your trip
Three years is the standard interval. We'll confirm at your appointment.
Food and water: the other half of the protection
- Water
- Bottled water with an unbroken seal, or water that's boiled, filtered or treated. Be careful with ice.
- Food
- Freshly cooked, served hot. Be careful with salads, raw vegetables and fruit you haven't peeled yourself, and with food left standing.
- Hands
- Wash with soap and safe water before eating and after the toilet. Alcohol gel helps when you can't.
- Staying with family
- This is where most cases start, and it's the hardest place to be careful without causing offence. It's worth agreeing in advance that you'll stick to bottled water and skip the salad.
Fever after you get back
See a doctor. A fever in the weeks after travel needs checking, and typhoid can appear up to three weeks or more after you were exposed.
Say where you've been. It changes which tests and which antibiotics are used, particularly if you've been in Pakistan, India or Bangladesh where resistant strains are common.
Don't self-treat. Leftover or over-the-counter antibiotics bought abroad can make diagnosis harder and may not work against resistant strains.
Safety
Safety and side effects
- Common side effects
- A sore, red or swollen arm for a day or two, and sometimes a mild fever or headache. Fever affects about one in a hundred people.
- Who can't have it
- Anyone who's had a severe allergic reaction to a previous dose or to an ingredient, including traces of neomycin. If you're unwell with a fever, wait until you've recovered.
- Pregnancy and breastfeeding
- The injection isn't a live vaccine and can be given in pregnancy where the risk of typhoid is real. It's fine while breastfeeding.
- Weakened immune system
- The injection is safe, though the response may be weaker. The oral capsules aren't suitable.
- Children under 2
- Not routinely recommended under 2, and not given under 1. Between 1 and 2 it can be given off-licence if the risk is high.
Your appointment
What the appointment involves
- Bring
- Your travel dates and destinations, any vaccination records, and a list of medicines.
- How long
- About fifteen minutes.
- Your record
- You leave with a written record, including the date your next dose is due in three years.
Before you book
Questions about the typhoid vaccine
Answered by the pharmacist who signs this page off.
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Yes. We give the typhoid jab privately for £49, including the consultation. It's one injection, and it lasts about three years.
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£49 for the single injection, including the consultation.
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At least two weeks. If you're leaving sooner it can still be worth having, and we'll be straight with you about what protection you'd have.
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About three years. After that you need another dose if you're still travelling to risk areas.
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No. There's no vaccine for paratyphoid, which causes a large share of UK enteric fever cases. That's why food and water care still matters.
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It's recommended for most travellers to both, and particularly for anyone visiting family. Both countries are among those where most UK cases are caught, and drug-resistant strains are common.
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From age 2, and from 12 months if the risk is judged high. Children visiting family are at genuine risk.
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There's an oral typhoid vaccine taken as three capsules on alternate days, from age 6. UK supply is variable and it usually has to be ordered specially, and it isn't suitable for everyone. Ask us at your appointment and we'll tell you whether it's an option for you.
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If it was more than three years ago and you're travelling to a risk area again, yes.
Guides and advice
Guides on typhoid
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Typhoid
Symptoms of Typhoid Fever and How to Prevent it
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Typhoid
Typhoid vs Cholera: How They Are Different?
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Typhoid
In What Intervals Should We Take The Typhoid Vaccination?
Guides are a starting point, not a diagnosis. What is right for you depends on your health history, your medicines and what a pharmacist finds on the day.
Find the pharmacy
Where to come, and when
Miles Pharmacy is in Epsom, Surrey. Patients come to us from across Surrey, including Ewell, Ashtead, Leatherhead and Banstead, and from Sutton, Cheam, Surbiton and Kingston in south-west London.
Ewell, Epsom, Surrey KT19 9UR
How to get here Parking, trains, buses and step-free access
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The door is on Chessington Road, with step-free access
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The station car park, on Station Approach off Chessington Road
- Address Elizabeth Court, Station Approach, KT17 1DR
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Step-free to all platforms, by a footbridge with lifts
- Step-free to every platform (National Rail step-free category A)
- Lifts two, on the footbridge
Checked against nationalrail.co.uk
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Outside the pharmacy, with a stop on each side of Chessington Road
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Cycle parking at the station
Take this with you
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Sources
- UKHSA Green Book chapter 33: typhoid. Checked .
- NaTHNaC: typhoid fever. Checked .
- NHS England/UKHSA typhoid Vi vaccine PGD v4.00, dated . Checked .
- UKHSA: typhoid and paratyphoid guidance, data and analysis. Checked .
Travel health
Book before you pack.
Choose a service and a date that suits you. One of us confirms it with you directly.
- Private and NHS
- GPhC premises 9011598
- Closed now
Prefer to talk? 020 8393 1000