Vanuatu is three hours from Brisbane and one of the easiest Pacific escapes we have. Port Vila for a resort week, Espiritu Santo for the diving and blue holes, Tanna for the volcano. It is safe, friendly and relaxed, and a lot of Australians go without much thought about their health. Mostly that works out, but Vanuatu does have malaria on some islands and a dengue problem right now, so a few minutes of planning is worth it.
This guide covers the vaccinations and precautions Australians should consider for Vanuatu. It is general information only. Your personal plan depends on which islands you visit, how long for, and your health history.
Do you need vaccinations to travel to Vanuatu?
No vaccinations are required to enter Vanuatu for Australians arriving from Australia. Yellow fever is not present in Vanuatu and the vaccine is not recommended for your own protection. The vaccines below are about protecting your health.
Recommended vaccinations for Vanuatu
For almost every traveller
- Hepatitis A. Spread through contaminated food and water. Recommended for essentially all travellers, including resort stays.
- Typhoid. Present in Vanuatu and recommended for most travellers, more so if you are eating outside the resort or staying in villages.
- Routine vaccines. Tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough, MMR (measles) and seasonal influenza should all be up to date. Tetanus matters because coral cuts and reef injuries are common. Whooping cough deserves a specific check right now: a large outbreak has been reported on Ambae island in Penama Province since late August 2026 and had not peaked at the time of review, so adults should have had a whooping cough booster within the last ten years.
Depending on your trip
- Hepatitis B. For longer stays, volunteers, or anyone who may need medical or dental treatment locally.
- Dengue. Vanuatu has ongoing dengue, and 2026 has brought a significant outbreak on Efate in Shefa Province, including the Port Vila area. Case numbers appear to have peaked, but dengue vaccination is worth discussing for travellers heading to southern Efate, and it is worth raising for Vanuatu generally. A dengue vaccine (Qdenga) is now available at our Bulimba clinic (see our guide to the dengue vaccine). Whether it suits you depends on your age, your trip and whether you have had dengue before, so raise it at your consult.
Usually not needed
Vanuatu is free of rabies, so the rabies vaccine is not recommended. There is no Japanese encephalitis either.
Malaria: it depends on the island
Vanuatu is one of the few Pacific holiday destinations where malaria still needs thinking about, and the advice is island-specific. Malaria tablets are generally recommended for Espiritu Santo and the rest of Sanma Province, Malekula and Malampa Province, and the rural parts of Shefa Province outside Port Vila, including the outer islands of Efate. They are not needed for the central urban area of Port Vila, for Tanna and the rest of Tafea Province, or for Penama Province. So a resort week in Port Vila is one conversation and a diving trip to Santo is another. Tell us your exact islands and we will sort out whether you need tablets and which ones.
Diving, volcanoes and reef cuts
Santo's SS President Coolidge is one of the world's great wreck dives, and deep. Make sure your travel insurance covers diving and medical evacuation, and know that recompression facilities in Vanuatu are limited. On Tanna, Mount Yasur puts you close to an active volcano: respect the access levels and carry a mask for ash if you have asthma. Coral cuts and reef scrapes get infected quickly in the tropics, so clean them properly and keep an eye on them.
Medical care
Port Vila and Luganville have hospitals that can handle routine problems, but anything serious means evacuation to Australia or New Caledonia. Travel insurance with medical evacuation cover is essential, not optional. Carry your regular medication for the whole trip plus a buffer, because supplies on the outer islands are limited.
Food, water and mosquitoes
Travellers' diarrhoea is a moderate risk in Vanuatu, lower in resorts and higher in villages and on outer islands. Drink bottled or boiled water outside the main resorts, and carry a treatment kit your travel doctor can prescribe. Mosquito bite prevention is your main defence against dengue, which is spread by day-biting mosquitoes, and against malaria on the islands where it occurs: repellent with DEET or picaridin, long sleeves at dawn and dusk, and a screened room or treated net.
A current note for Tanna (September 2026): Tanna Island has been dealing with a sizeable outbreak of rotavirus gastroenteritis since August, mostly affecting young children and centred on the south-west of the island, and it had not yet peaked at the time of review. If Tanna is on your itinerary, be strict about food, water and hand hygiene, carry oral rehydration sachets, and check that any children travelling with you had their routine rotavirus vaccination as infants (it is an infant vaccine, so for most families this is a check rather than a new jab). Seek medical care if anyone cannot keep fluids down, and be aware that medical facilities on Tanna are limited.
When to see a travel doctor
Book your pre-travel consultation 4 to 6 weeks before you fly so any multi-dose vaccines have time to work and malaria tablets can be started on schedule. Even last-minute travellers benefit.
At Travel Doctors Brisbane in Bulimba, we tailor recommendations to your exact islands and prescribe malaria prevention where it is needed. See our Vanuatu destination health advice, browse our travel health services, and book your consultation.
This article is general information only and was reviewed against our subscription travel health database in October 2026. It does not replace personalised medical advice. Vaccination needs and disease risks change and depend on your itinerary, season, length of stay and health history. Always confirm with a travel health professional and Smartraveller before you travel.