Vaccinations
April 13, 2019
Different countries require different vaccinations. See your local health authority for recommendations. We went to our local travel clinic. Make sure you make plans well in advance as some treatments may not be available regularly or some you have to get well in advance of your trip. The shingles vaccination had a one year wait. There was a shortage of yellow fever vaccinations globally, but we lucked out and got ours just in time. For information about recommended immunizations, visit your world health organization.
“Imagine the action of a vaccine not just in terms of how it affects a single body, but also in terms of how it affects the collective body of a community.” — Eula Biss, author of On Immunity
Vaccinations are still a personal choice, and in the end, it is up to all of us to decide what and if we need to use treatments. Cliff and I travelled all around the world, and I feel it is my responsibility to bring and bring back as little impact on my fellow humans where ever I might go. With that said we all need to do our research and inform our self :
Routine vaccinations often recommended by Health professionals to travellers include:
TDaP (Tetanus, Diptheria, Purtusiss)
Measles, Mumps, Rubella
Polio
Hepatitis A
Hepatitis B
Or Twinrix (Hepatitis A and B at the same time)
Recommended Travel Vaccines
Commonly recommended travel vaccines, depending on destination, can include:
Typhoid fever
Malaria (medication, not vaccine)
Rabies
Cholera
Meningitis
Japanese Encephalitis
Required Travel Vaccinations
It all depends on where you plan to travel too you may need evidence of some travel vaccinations; yellow fever is a core example.
For example, if you’ve just been to a country with a yellow fever problem (which includes much of South America and Africa), you might be required to show proof of vaccination before entering, or when entering other countries afterwards.
If you’re planning driving trough like us in parts of the Amazon where yellow fever is a problem, you as may well want this vaccination for both legal ease and peace of mind. You will receive an official document which you should keep with your passport as some South American countries may refuse you entry. The yellow fever vaccination is a one-time vaccine and should be good for a long time as our travel nurse told us.