A transition abroad is on the horizon. 11 months to go for myself and by radiant bride-to-be. Time to start getting serious about a few things, and at the top of that list is immunizations. I thought I had things more or less on the right track by contacting the local county health dept., and while they're certainly helpful, they managed to put a damper on our financial outlook. Quoted was just south of $3,000 for immunizations (x2, of course).

Help. Please. We'll be working our way (literally and figuratively) from spot to spot, so money is a concern as it generally is for most folks with no steady income.

Planning on going to South Africa (World Cup!!!!), China, India, SEA, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Turkey, Korea and Russia. Working in China, Korea, India, traveling in the rest and quite frankly may just end up going where the mood, or moment, take us.

Any advice on what we actually need? How much you all have spent? I'd not fond of this phrasing, but what vaccinations and immunizations do we need, and what is, ahem, optional?

Any and all insight is most appreciated!

Blimey - thats way over the top.
Who quoted you that cost?????

The trouble with travel clinics is that they are profit driven so they will throw everything at you that they possibly can to get every last penny out of you. What are they telling you to have out of interest????
I would go elsewhere - maybe get advice from your physician as to which ones you REALLY need - then you tell the clinic which ones you want rather than them telling you!!!.

its your personal choice of course but I wouldnt bother with things like rabies unless your working with animals and miles from civilisation, Hep B unless your planning to do sex and drugs, yellow fever unless your planning on going to the SA jungles/amazon. I have been all over SE Asia and never needed Jap encephalitis either. Or meningitis.

You would be wise to get Hep A, typhoid, dipth, and uptodate tetanus/polio/TB(you should have these on board already). Our GP/doctors in the UK give us these for free!!
And you probably need malarials of your choice for SEA and India. Also I would take something like ciprofloxacin for diarrhoea, although you can buy these antibiotics over the counter in most of these countries for far cheaper than in the western world!!

However - these are my choices and you would do best to see your doc for advice.

Hey Zuleika, the costs were quoted by a County Health nurse. It's worth noting that they included all the common shots in their recommendation, including:

Hep A
Hep B
Polio
Meningcoccal
yellow fever
MMR
Hep B
Typhoid
Pneumonococcal
Influenza
Tet/Dip¡
Rabies
Japanese Encephilitis

It goes without saying that after the initial back and forth with their friendly staff, we're putting a halt and looking at other options (hence the posting here).

Honestly, we just went charging in with little research on this one, so the blame and ignorance lies squarely on our shoulders. After seeing $3,000 in immunizations, I hit the panic button instead of simply breathing first and thinking it through.

Either way, good advice throughout and spot on with consulting a physician to refine the list.

Thanks a million!

Your welcome!
Have a fab trip.

Lots of info about vaccines, and health on the road in general, here.

Hep A
Hep B
Polio
Meningcoccal
yellow fever
MMR
Hep B
Typhoid
Pneumonococcal
Influenza
Tet/Dip¡
Rabies
Japanese Encephilitis

I've visited many of the same places and out of your list I got vacs for
Hep A/B (often come as a cocktail)
MMR booster
Typhoid
Tetanus booster

and had some cipro and doxycycline along with me for the runs and malaria. I was just fine. The trick to getting travel vaccinations is you need to go to a DR who has actually travelled in the regions, otherwise they just stick you with whatever scare mongering the CDC has posted on their website.

PC

Oh, I also go the yellow fever one. I got lucky and SOMEHOW convinced my insurance to pay for it. I'm still not sure how that happened.....

PC

@PhotoChick - Too true. If I went by the CDC guide we'd be dropping close to $3,000 before we even left the States. Most likely we'll go with the standards like you listed and carry the cipro/doxycycline in case.

@Hydro - Thank you sir. You've effectively outlined my reading material for the next night or two.

If you were born and raised in the U.S., you should have already gotten vaccinated for Tetanus-Diphtheria-Pertussis and Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR). These are required pretty much everywhere in order to enroll in school. You might have also gotten a Polio vaccine as a child. You should get a copy of your medical records and see. Everything else on the list is technically optional, except maybe yellow fever, which is required by a lot of countries just to get in.

Also, if you have medical insurance, you can probably get them to cover some of these shots. They will almost certainly cover boosters for Tetanus-Diphtheria-Pertussis, MMR, Polio, and the flu shot at a minimum. They should also pick up Hep A, Hep B, and Meningitis, but you may have to convince them that your daily routine puts you at risk. Very doubtful they will go for a Pneumonia vaccine, Typhoid, Yellow Fever, Rabies, and Japanese Encephilitis. You'll have to consult with your doc and do some research to decide for yourself whether to get those.

Good luck!