Travel vaccines (China: insurance, live, prices)

[ShaneCD]

My family is looking to travel to India this summer.

I understand the following vaccines are among those recommended:

Chickenpox
Diphtheria, Pertussis, and Tetanus (DPT)
Hepatitis A
Hepatitis B
Influenza
Japanese encephalitis
Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR)
Polio
Rabies
Typhoid

The cost of getting these vaccines is over $1000 per person at Passport Health.

I am looking for suggestions on how this cost can be reduced.

Thanks,
Shane

[txdemo]

Not sure if this helps but here's Kelsey Seybold's prices:

https://www.kelsey-seybold.com/medic...nic/price-list

Also, here's Harris County Public Health immunization info:

http://publichealth.harriscountytx.g.../Immunizations

[suzy_q2010]

Originally Posted by ShaneCD

My family is looking to travel to India this summer.

I understand the following vaccines are among those recommended:

Chickenpox
Diphtheria, Pertussis, and Tetanus (DPT)
Hepatitis A
Hepatitis B
Influenza
Japanese encephalitis
Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR)
Polio
Rabies
Typhoid

The cost of getting these vaccines is over $1000 per person at Passport Health.

I am looking for suggestions on how this cost can be reduced.

Thanks,
Shane

How old are you?

For most of those, adult booster are not needed, MMR, polio, and chickenpox, for example. You would only need proof from your doctor that you have had them. I would take a polio booster if going to Pakistan or Afghanistan, though.

Hepatitis A and B and the adult version of the DPT, the Tdap, you should have anyway, and may be covered by insurance if you have it.

The other vaccines depend on your itinerary and how long you plan to stay.

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destina...ler/none/india

Vaccines take time to work, so do not delay getting them.

[mikeyyc]

Dtap and MMR are public health vaccines, and you should have them already, and if not, your booster should be free.


Hep A/B are what I would worry about.


Where are you going in India? I'd be more concerned about getting a decent bug spray to keep the mosquitos away than worrying about polio, rabies or typhoid.


Of course your risk tolerances my vary.

[ShaneCD]

From the above, I take it Hep A/B, Dtap and MMR should be high on priority.

We are planning a trip in July. The oldest family member is 50 and the youngest 15. Visiting parts of southern India in and around Chennai. I hear mosquitoes are a major issue here.

I am in Fort Bend county if that matters.

How does this change the recommendations?

[suzy_q2010]

The oldest member (born @ 1968) may have gotten the three vaccines in the MMR as separate shots. The MMR came out in 1973. Those born before 1957 are so likely to have had all three illnesses that they are presumed immune. The difficulty may arise from older members of your group being unable to document their vaccinations. Proof of immunity can be determined for some diseases with blood antibody titers, but it is often cheaper just to take the MMR as a booster. The kids can probably get their shot records fairly easily. Some states have online sites where doctors can upload immunizations to a central registry and your primary care doctor can access them. In TX, it is the ImmTrac2:

https://www.dshs.texas.gov/immunize/...c/default.shtm

The CDC sited I linked to earlier can help you decide about the vaccines Americans do not routinely get. It depends on where you are going and how long you will be there.

There has been no polio in India since 2011, and your entire group is probably covered by previous immunizations. That presumes you will not be going to Pakistan or Afghanistan, where there is still wild poliovirus circulating.

Have you checked on insurance coverage?

Do take precautions against skeeters. Check the CDC site for malaria to see whether prophylactic antimalarial treatment is indicated where you will be visiting.

[shanv3]

Originally Posted by ShaneCD

My family is looking to travel to India this summer.

I understand the following vaccines are among those recommended:

Chickenpox
Diphtheria, Pertussis, and Tetanus (DPT)
Hepatitis A
Hepatitis B
Influenza
Japanese encephalitis
Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR)
Polio
Rabies
Typhoid

The cost of getting these vaccines is over $1000 per person at Passport Health.

I am looking for suggestions on how this cost can be reduced.

Thanks,
Shane

Better dont go. There is no vaccine for NIPAH yet which is spreading in South India.

[mikeyyc]

Dengue seems to be the bigger issue in that area. Malaria, for me, I'll use bug spray. The anti-malarials mess with my system too much. There's no vaccine for malaria, as it's a parasite. The drugs work by effectively turning your blood to poison for the parasite, so that it dies before it reaches your liver.


https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/62359388.cms


Again, nothing you can do for Dengue, except avoid getting bitten.

[madrone2k]

Perhaps you can reduce the cost of vaccinations by not repeating ones that have already been taken. In any case, I would recommend knowing which ones your family has and making sure to get the ones they haven't. I learned this the hard way -- the MMR vaccine was not available when I was at the normal age to receive it. (I had mumps and rubella as a kid, so presumably I had immunity from that.) My mom had mentioned this to me later in life, but I didn't take much note of it. Consequently, I was not vaccinated for Rubeola ... which I contracted a few years ago while visiting China. They say its much worse to have it as an adult and I can verify that makes one miserable for quite a few weeks. Plus -- in the US, at least -- one must be quarantined during that period.

[ChristieP]

You cannot take the rabies vaccine as a prophylactic. It is only given after you've been bitten/exposed to a potentially rabid animal.

The Hepatitis B vaccine is a 3-shot series that is given over 9 months. It's usually only given to healthcare workers who have the occupational exposure to blood or blood products. I've never heard of it being suggested for travelers.

If you're concerned that you don't have immunity from your childhood vaccines, you can have "titers" run to see if you have the antibodies for those diseases. This would also work if you had the chickenpox prior to the development of the vaccine. This would be helpful for: MMR, polio, chickenpox, and DPT.