BootsnAll Travel Community

So...this shot is really damn expensive. My wife and I will be going to Southeast Asia for an extended amount of time next year. The quote we've received for it says it is $80 an injection....and we each need three. So a little quick math...that's $480. I want a shot that makes me immune to panhandlers for that much money.

Do you think the shot is worth it? I've heard it's a very rare disease, but if you get it...it sounds...unpleasent.

Thoughts?

See if you can get it in Asia rather than here in the States. Yeah, shots are a bitch on the wallet. Just went through a bit of it myself.

PC

I am booked in to have this one tomorrow - I am not sure how much it costs here in the UK. I am told the disease isnt too common but as I am visiting rural asia a lot at the moment I am going for it...

Philip

and if you get it then your brain turns to mush permanently...I would toss $480 out a friggin window to avoid mush brain

Casey

Personally, I wouldn't get that shot.
Mush brain? I lived through the 60's.
I know from mush brain.

Thanks for the input. I think we're leaning away from getting the shot at the moment. Mush brain is bad, but I'm not sure my brain is really worth $500...there isn't anything too valuable up there.

Speaking vaccinations though, what about Yellow Fever? The doctor my wife spoke too gave her some information and it only suggests the shot for trips to Africa and South America. Do you need the Yellow card to travel about Asia?

Skobb,

The CDC says you don't need the Yellow Fever vac for Asia. Seeing how they are the biggest worry warts (every little bug is going to kill you, etc) and extremely conservative in their recommendations, I'd say skip it. I am.

PC

Alright people, can we open this back up or what?

My doc told me not to worry about getting the Japanese Enceph. shots, then a friend who lived in China a year totally suggested it, then the CDC suggested it(but whatever, they suggest everything), then...I CAN'T MAKE UP MY MIND!!!

It is so expensive, and if we got them, I think we would do it in Oz or N. Zealand, but should we even? I'm so confused and I lean towards NO, but fear the YES.

Is there anyone who can provide additional input on this?

Where exactly is JE 'on the go'?

We're definitely not getting JE shots. In fact, we're almost done with our shots and we're getting: Typhoid, Twinrix (Hep A and B) and tetanus booster (if needed.)

As the travel nurse explained to me about Japanese Encephalitis:

It's very rare and your greatest chance of exposure is if you're going to be staying for extended times in rural areas where there is standing water (mosquitoes) and pigs (apparently a major carrier.) This mostly applied to certain parts of Laos.

Even then, you have to take into consideration what you're doing for mosquito bite prevention. It just didn't seem worth $250 to me.

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the CDC states that JE is found throughout SE Asia, India, and China, of course more so in less developed areas.

It will cost us $102 per shot at 3 shots, you do the math. Plus the side effects of the shots scare me, but we WILL be in rural areas, especially in China, though we WILL be taking measure against mosquito bites, so I'm still torn.

We were also told by our doc to get the vaccine for meningitis. Skobb, were you advised about that as well? I hadn't thought about it at all until she advised it.

I got my JE and my hep A shot earlier this year(I went to SE Asia)and I don't know if it was worth it(it wasn't to me). I had no side effects though. The shitiest part for me was not having enough time for the JE shot, so we had to take the other two with us! What a pain in the ass or ARM! We had a doctors letter for the needles and kept it on Ice till we got to our guest house(freezer). The damn doctor didn't tell us we needed 2 more till she gave us the first! Of course, it's funny now!

Sincerely,
the TP necklace guy!

Menudio,

My nurse didn't mention anything about meningitis. I didn't even know they had a shot for that.

She did say that there was talk to the effect that there may be a SARS shot coming. I had heard on the news somewhere that they think SARS may be a cyclical thing. So it might be back next year. Bad for the very few who get it, but nice to keep tourists away.

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It'll be neat if you guy find out the prices of the jabs in Asia.. Might be cheaper... I know consulting of doctor here is so so much much cheaper!