Vaccinations...Get Them.

Last month I convinced my wife that we needed to visit the travel clinic at UW-Seattle's Hall Health. the travel clinic is exactly what you'd expect: They have a few doctors on hand who specialize in all things related to travel. When you make an appointment with the travel clinic, they'll send you a form for you to complete and bring with you to the appointment. On this form you'll list all of the places you'll be visiting. With that form, the doctor can print out a host of resources and information on how to keep safe against the various diseases and virus in that area.

The doctor was very helpful and knowledgeable about the places we plan on visiting. She explained to us the health risks and ways for us to stay safe against contaminated water, mosquitoes, and other dangers that we might forget about. She then gave us a list of vaccinations that we could get at Hall Health and at our preferred pharmacy.

We received vaccinations and medications for:

• Japanese Encephalitis (two shots, the second one taken 28 days after the first, $330/shot),
• Typhoid Mary (four pills, each taken 48hrs after the other on an empty stomach),
• Malaria (Doxycycline, take every day until four weeks after leaving)
• Traveler's Diarrhea (Azithromycin, 2/day, up to three days)

It's worth noting that our insurance did cover the visit to the travel clinic, but they did not cover vaccinations and medications for travel. I hear that this is the case for most insurance policies, so be prepared to pay over $1,000 for the recommended treatments. They're expensive, but beats the alternative.

I know many of you probably travelled to SE Asia for a couple of weeks without vaccinations or medications and escaped unscathed. However, we decided to err on the side of caution because we are going to not only stay in Vietnam for an extended period of time, but also do some adventurous traveling across the rest of SE Asia that may last more than a month. I'd rather shell this money out now than be confined to a hospital or worse.

Key point of this post: See if Hall Health is in your insurances network. If they are (or even if they're not), then consider paying them a visit. Even if you opt not to get what they recommend, it'll still be helpful to hear how best to prepare for your trip, especially if you're going to developing countries.