Comments on: Immunizations, Vaccines, and Shots (Oh My!)

By: Joanne

Joanne — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 11:54:21 +0000

I heard that there is an effective Japanese Encephalitis shot that you can get in Nepal and –was it Korea or Thailand? It was written possibly up by WHO a few years ago. It is one shot, cheap, few side effects and good for life. Anyone know what it is called and how I would get such a shot while visiting Nepal?

Regarding Mefloquin or Lariam, I witnessed the strange side effects in someone close to me: nightmares, anger, and other psychological reactions–and this is someone who showed no prior tendencies.

Joanne

By: Natalie

Natalie — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 01:58:38 +0000

My husband and I are currently receiving the same Japanese Encephalitis (JE) vaccinations that you went through a while back.

Their is a new Japanese Encephalitis vaccination that is coming out either late 2008 or early 2009. This should be less expensive and it can be given in 2 shots instead of the current 3.

Feel free to read about our JE experiences and more on http://www.nomadbackpackers.com

By: wade

wade — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 20:48:41 +0000

I am in the process of getting poked and prodded for a trip to South America. Went through it a few years back for a trip to Africa. Malaria medication is a “better safe than sorry” thing for me. I take Malarone. It does make me have some funky, vivid dreams though.

By: Cassie

Cassie — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 01:03:27 +0000

I’ve been thinking about the malaria thing lately too.

This is a great link about vaccines http://travelindependent.info/b4yougo.htm

Its a tough call. There was a woman that was on the Thorn Tree boards forever that wrote a book and travelled all over hitchhiking and was fairly well known…she died a of malaria last year, and it seems the debate is in high gear again.

Nice that your insurance covers some vaccines. I just started the Gardasil series and they told me they’d cover it, then declined in the end. Those are almost $200 a shot and there are three of them…and painful as hell.

Who knew that shots could be so exciting?!!

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 23:06:42 +0000

Awesome! You may have just saved me several hundred dollars, Dave. I’ll have to call my insurance company but it sounds like I may be in luck. If so, I’ll be happy to give you a testimonial should you ever decide to post a “Testimonials” page. =P

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 22:37:08 +0000

Stu you raise a good question I’ll be sure to ask just to be safe. I, unlike some others, intend to get medical insurance once I quit my job, in addition to travel insurance. It’ll have a high deductible, however the goal is to have no lapse in medical coverage, which would make it more likely I could get caught in some type of catch-22 tied to pre-existing conditions if I got really ill.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 22:33:57 +0000

I would recommend you definetly call your health insurance company to find out which immunizations they cover, and how the plan covers them. I work for a rather big insurance company, and can say there is a movement in the industry (and amongst employer clients) toward investing more in preventive medicine, which includes vaccines (both for children and adults).

For example, I’m covered at 100% for certain nationally recommended vaccines, which makes this process a little lighter on my wallet.

Don’t be surprised if I wait until my boots are in Australia before deciding how to approach the malaria threat in SE Asia!

By: Stu

Stu — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 15:33:52 +0000

yeah the malaria debates… ive one foot in each camp.met a lot of saffers and zimbers in london and none of them had malaria or took tabs/injections (but its probably different if you grow up there)…

all I know is how sick they make you and how often you have to take them…

if you forgoe malaria treatment, Id be curious to know the helth insurance company position if you come back and try and get treatment…

i thought they attached ‘diziness, nausea, etc’ to everything these days because if someone somewhere gets dizzy, it applies the warning to everyone…

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 13:08:09 +0000

I never even stopped to think that some jabs might be covered by my own health insurance. Anyone know if this is fairly common? I had just planned on paying for the full boat out of my own pocket.

Dave, I spent quite a bit of time on the BnA forums researching vaccinations and it seems like about half the people over there reported the side effects you mentioned for Lariam. Sounds like pretty nasty stuff. I’d be interested to hear how you decide to handle the malaria issue.

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 10:14:05 +0000

Wow that is expensive, I imagine it would be even more expensive here too. It’s something I haven’t thought about too much yet but I’m really going to have to.

On the Malaria, it does depend on the person a lot if they go a daily tablet or injection, but I have heard that countries your most at risk in have the most effective drugs there and given that they are developing countries it could also work out significantly cheaper.