Pediatric Travel Medicine

Keeping Your Child Healthy While Traveling Abroad

At Hackensack Meridian Children’s Health, our Pediatric Travel Medicine program helps families across New Jersey prepare for safe and healthy international travel. Whether it's for a family vacation, school trip, or visiting relatives abroad, our experts provide personalized guidance to protect your child from travel-related illnesses.

Our pre-travel consultations are tailored to your specific itinerary and your child’s unique health needs. We provide:

• Personalized Health Plans: We review your destination and travel plans to create a custom strategy for keeping your child safe.
• Specialized Travel Vaccines: We offer access to immunizations that may not be available at a regular pediatrician’s office.
• Preventative Medications & Guidance: We provide necessary prescriptions (such as for malaria prevention) and expert advice on food and water safety, insect protection, and managing health while abroad.

Our goal is to ensure your child is medically ready for the journey, so your family can focus on the adventure ahead.

What is Pediatric Travel Medicine?

Pediatric travel medicine focuses on protecting children from preventable diseases and health risks specific to international destinations. Depending on where your child is going, they may need vaccinations that aren’t part of the routine childhood schedule in the United States. These vaccines help guard against serious illnesses like yellow fever, typhoid, or Japanese encephalitis, diseases that may be common in parts of Asia, Africa, South America, or other regions.

We also help you understand health precautions beyond immunizations, such as mosquito bite prevention, safe food and water practices, and personalized medication plans when needed.

When to Schedule a Pediatric Travel Consultation

The best time to schedule your child’s travel medicine visit is four to six weeks before your departure date. This allows enough time for vaccines to take effect and for any follow-up appointments if needed. If your trip is coming up sooner, don’t worry, reach out as soon as possible so we can still help protect your child.

Who Should Consider Travel Health Services?

Our clinic is open to all families in New Jersey planning international travel with children, including:

• Families visiting relatives in tropical or subtropical countries
• Students participating in school programs or service trips abroad
• Faith-based groups attending missions in underserved regions
• Any family vacationing in areas with health alerts or vaccine requirements
• Children visiting extended family abroad may be at higher risk for certain diseases. These trips often involve close contact in local environments, increasing exposure to illnesses not typically found in the U.S.