The Thai Red Cross centre in Bangkok is the easiest place to get a yellow fever vaccination if you’re heading to Africa or South America. Here’s directions on how to get there
It’s surprisingly difficult to get a yellow fever vaccination in Bangkok – no hospitals provide the service and so it’s only available from three places – the Thai Immigration office which recently moved from Suan Plu in Sathorn to the far away district of Chaeng Wattana; the Bamras hospital in Nonthaburi, also quite a journey from central Bangkok; and the Thai Red Cross centre, which is located in Silom.
It’s easy to get to the Thai Red Cross centre – go to Silom MRT, come out of the subway exit onto Rama IV by walking over the bridge and following the signs for the Pan Pacific hotel to get you onto Rama IV. Walk down the road and the Thai Red Cross is on the corner of Rama IV and Soi Henri Dunant.
When you enter into the centre from soi Henri Dunant, the grounds are quite large. Walk straight until you see the large building with the Art Deco archways which has a prominent Red Cross sign. The sign is faintly disturbing in that it also announces you are now in the Centre For Venomous Snake Toxicology and Research.
Walk past the sign and in through the Art Deco entrance. Once you walk in here, you will see a series of rooms to your left. Walk into Room 1 (don’t worry if the door is shut – it’s not a consulting room) and register as a patient. This costs 20 Baht and involves a little form filling, being weighed and a blood pressure check.
A quick consult with a doctor will then get you sent off to the pharmacy to buy the yellow fever injection itself which costs 900 Baht. You take this to Room 4 where the nurse administers it. You are then issued with your Yellow Book to prove you have had the vaccination. You will need to take your passport to prove your ID in order for the Yellow Book to be issued.
The whole process was extremely quick with little waiting around and the staff spoke a fair bit of English. The doctor spoke English fluently. As per usual in these situations, if you are super polite and smile a lot, the staff will go out of their way to help you.
The Thai Red Cross appear to provide all the major vaccinations travellers need – typhoid, tetanus, polio etc – and so if you are starting your travels in Bangkok it might be worth considering getting all your jabs here – it’s probably a lot cheaper than getting them in the USA or Europe, although I can’t confirm what the prices are for each jab.
