MSE Blog: To jab or not to jab, that is the question?

Former_MSE_Helen

"After the wedding comes the honeymoon. And with that comes the recommendation that both my fianc! and I should be injected with seemingly every vaccination under the sun..."

Read MSE Amy's full blog:
To jab or not to jab, that is the question?


Click reply below to discuss. If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply. If you aren’t sure how it all works, read our New to Forum? Intro Guide.

mgdavid

it's all about Risk Assessment, and as is often the case on forums the OP remains delightfully vague on detail.
Anyone attempting a similar exercise needs to gather the input data first; Which countries are you visiting? how are you travelling? How long for? Where do you plan to stay? What activities are you planning? What's your health history? What's the current FO advice for each country? etc etc
It might be more useful if the OP told us how she arrived at her decision on which 2 of the 4 recommended immunisations to have. I like to think it was something more rational than 'I feel' ?
Also did the OP get alternative prices from other clinics, if not then why not, that would be the MSE approach surely?

sazaccount

Quite surprised this has come up today...

I was planning on going travelling in the new year (whole other story as why its now postponed!!) Travelling to India, Thailand, cambodia OZ and then working in NZ

Today (well yesterday) I've just had my typhoid injection,

After a very painless phone appointment with the travel nurse at my local doctors, which could be pre-booked unlike real appointments and doing a run though of where and possible when I was going to each places. Looking at my previous injections she recommend getting my typhoid booster as it only lasts for 3 years (done on NHS) and closer to the time with more of a plan of where and when to decide on which anti-malarials to go for.

Some anti-malarials are cheaper than others and you can get them online majority of the time cheaper than in a chemist. My last trip i didn't even need a prescription because of the type I wanted.

As I wasn't planning on having extended trips into the jungle, possibly an elephant sanctuary so being less then 24 hours away from a hospital, Rabies wasn't suggest.

With the others I think its about common sense and knowing what you are doing, if you are going to a 5* resort/ beach/city holiday then you are less likely to need them compared to trekking though the jungle

Also look around there are a lot of travel clinics where you can compare prices!!

Have a good honeymoon Amy Ellis :-)
xx

Doshwaster

This is a good reminder. I've just checked my immunisation card and my Tyhpoid was done 4 years ago (seems like yesterday!) and I'm going to Vietnam in October so I suppose I'd better get a booster.

Voyager2002

Very surprising to see this post made by someone who works for MSE, and so ought to know better. She has broken a cardinal rule: do NOT go to a salesman to get advice on what you need. In this case, she began well by visiting her GP to be told what vaccinations she needed, and getting some of them on the NHS. She then visited a travel clinic for the ones that she needed but could not get from her doctor: fine.

At that point she made her big mistake. Instead of simply telling the clinic which vaccinations she was going to buy (relying on the impartial advice from her GP), she ASKED them, and of course they tried to sell her everything that they offered, particularly the expensive ones.

For example, she apparently believed that Hepatitis B was essential for her holiday. I doubt very much whether this was appropriate: when I went to live and work in a country where Hep B was a problem, I had a detailed discussion with a travel doctor. The upshot was that since Hep B is difficult to transmit, it would only be a real risk if I were going to work in a medical setting; as a vet; or engage in lots of risky sexual activity with locals! Given that perspective, it is hard to see why this vaccination would have been appropriate for someone going on honeymoon.

jhb123

Some supermarket chemists can issue anti-malarial tablets without a prescription.

The rabies vaccination only increases the amount of time before you need to get medical help (from memory, I think it was from 24 hours to 72 hours), the treatment after being infected is the same. So, unless you're visiting somewhere remote it isn't worth getting. You need to consider how far (journey length wise) you'll be from a good medical centre.

Voyager2002

jhb123 wrote: »

Some supermarket chemists can issue anti-malarial tablets without a prescription.

The rabies vaccination only increases the amount of time before you need to get medical help (from memory, I think it was from 24 hours to 72 hours), the treatment after being infected is the same. So, unless you're visiting somewhere remote it isn't worth getting. You need to consider how far (journey length wise) you'll be from a good medical centre.

A good example of why medical advice is not permitted on this site... the information provided is wrong and potentially dangerous.

First point: supermarket chemists can issue SOME anti-malarials without prescription.

Second point: the rabies vaccine both extends the time within which an infected person must begin treatment if death is to be avoided, and alters the treatment that is required. Anyone who thinks it is likely that they might be exposed to the disease but declines vaccination because their destination is not "remote" is being extremely foolish.

JimmyTheWig

And can you ever be moneysaving when it comes to this sort of thing?

Our honeymoon was in Scotland.
Had a lovely time.
Bill for injections was £zero.

PompeyPete

The only person to ask about vaccinations/medical precautions is your local Travel Clinic at your own GP surgery.

They've got access your medical history. Make an appointment about 6 weeks prior to travel.

The 4 UK standards are Diptheria, Tetanus, Hep 'A', and Typhoid, and all UK travellers should be in date before travelling anywhere [even down to the corner shop].

Six weeks before our recent trip to Nepal we made an appointment with our GP Travel Clinic. Did the same for Thailand and cambodia last year.

We had a private one-2-one consultation.

Lots of questions, particularly about intended activities, lifestyle, and length of stay in any particular area.

We gave lots of honest answers, and also discussed common sense things like precautions against mozzie bites.

At the end we were each given a fully personalised travel health brief MASTA (Minding Your Health Abroad)...

http://www.masta-travel-health.com/

This is a one-off brief, valid only for the journey discussed at the consultation.

If I needed to make a claim on my Travel Insurance then I would have used the MASTA brief to support my claim.

The consultation was free, it took only half an hour, and it definitely put our mind at rest.

FBaby

Funny I am reading this this morning too as just taken my first anti-malaria tablet this morning. I realised only a week ago that this was highly recommended. Along with a few others, but as above, it was a case of if I wanted to be completely totally reassured rather than it being recommended.

I ordered the tablets on line with a well recommended and approved provided. Very impressed with the service and much cheaper than local pharmacy.

GwylimT

Just remember some travel insurance companies will not pay for medical care if the person has become ill due to refusing vaccination, so I wouldake sure you check your insurance specifics as well.