If you are planning to travel outside the United States whether for vacation, business, education or a mission trip, local health officials suggest making sure you are up-to-date with your vaccinations and checking to see if there are specific vaccinations required for your destination.

The Knox County Health Department recently announced it is now offering travel vaccines. The health department has offered routine vaccinations - sometimes referred to as immunizations - for many years. The addition of travel vaccines came about due to increased requests from local residents and lack of availability locally. “Every year we get requests from students and faculty going abroad to study, parishioners going on mission trips and residents traveling beyond the United States for vacation,” said Lorraine Bratton, director of nursing for the health department. “In the past we had to send them outside of the county. Now we can help them closer to home.” (click for more)