Travel vaccination in senior travelers: current evidence, challenges, and prevention

The substantial number of older adults undertaking international travel has increased the relevance of pre-travel prevention in this population. However, vaccination strategies in this group require consideration of immune aging, baseline status, medication use, and travel-related exposure. This narrative review summarizes the current evidence on vaccination in senior travelers, with particular attention to the vaccines most relevant to this population, the differences in the strength of evidence across vaccines, and the clinical factors that should guide pre-travel decision-making. Routine vaccines, including influenza, COVID-19, pneumococcal, respiratory syncytial virus, herpes zoster, and tetanus-diphtheria vaccines, constitute an essential part of pre-travel assessment, whereas travel-specific vaccines, such as hepatitis A, hepatitis B, typhoid, rabies, Japanese encephalitis, tick-borne encephalitis, and cholera, should be considered according to the destination, itinerary, expected exposure, and time before departure. Yellow fever vaccination represents a particular clinical challenge because advancing age is associated with a greater risk of serious vaccine-associated adverse events, making individualized risk‒benefit assessment essential. Recently introduced dengue and chikungunya vaccines should also be considered on an individualized basis, taking into account exposure risk, potential benefits, comorbidities, and the current limitations of the available evidence. The review also highlights the importance of integrating vaccination with non-vaccine preventive strategies, including food and water precautions, vector avoidance, and hygiene measures. Although the evidence base has expanded, important uncertainties remain, particularly because age-specific data are limited and frail older adults remain underrepresented in clinical studies. Overall, pre-travel care for senior travelers should be comprehensive, exposure-based, and individualized according to the clinical profile and travel characteristics of each traveler.