Who doesn’t love to travel internationally? The excitement of packing, researching, and planning out an itinerary for a foreign country is time-consuming yet exhilarating.
Determining the type of luggage to bring, shoes to wear, weather to prepare for, and language to translate, pulls people out of their normal and propels them into a whole new world to explore.
Be aware that with wanderlust comes responsibility. Do your due diligence ahead of time, and check into the recommended and required vaccinations for the destination country.
Understanding vaccines for foreign countries can be daunting, especially as many of the potential diseases sound scary. However, they may not apply to the area you plan to visit.
The first stop should be research into the CDC traveler’s health page. There's a checklist to determine ‘What type of traveler are you?”
For instance, are you traveling with children, or going as part of a mission trip? Will you be visiting friends or family, or enjoying a cruise ship?
Next is a list of each country and what you, as the savvy traveler, should consider as far as vaccines and medications.
As an example, those visiting Argentina should be up to date on all their routine vaccines common for the United States (e.g., the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella, as well as the DPT shot for diphtheria,pertussis and tetanus).
You'll find a recommendation that most travelers should get hepatitis A and typhoid vaccines. In addition, you could consider being vaccinated for hepatitis B, yellow fever and rabies depending on your intended location and the length of time you plan on staying in the area.
Another common destination is Thailand. The CDC again recommends staying up to date on the common U.S. vaccines but also suggests hepatitis A and typhoid vaccinations. The CDC suggests that you consider the Japanese encephalitis vaccine — especially if your trip is to be longer than a month — as well as anti-malarial medications.
The yellow fever vaccine is not required as there is no yellow fever in Thailand however if you were coming from a country that does have this condition, you would need to provide proof of recent vaccination.
Once you research your particular country (or countries), the next step is finding a place to get vaccinated. You can first call your health care provider to see if they provide traveler’s vaccinations.
You can also call your local pharmacy to see if they are a travel pharmacy and are prepared with common traveler’s vaccines. The majority of people tend to go to their local travel clinic (searchable online) for a quick consult with the physician.
This will have to do with the area they are going to, where they plan to stay — city versus rural — and what they plan to do while visiting — sightseeing vs. missionary or relief work — in order to determine the appropriate vaccination.
It is important to note that some vaccinations come in a series and must be administered on a certain timeline. Do not put off your vaccines until the day before you travel, or even the week before!
If you require several vaccines and are sensitive, you may also want to consider spreading out your injections and have them one or two at a time instead of receiving them all on the same day. It is common for some vaccines to cause pain, swelling, redness, and irritation at the site of injection and you may feel under the weather for a few days as your body reacts.
Last but not least, have fun, be safe, and be responsible!
Sources:
1) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2015). Possible Side Effects of Vaccines.
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/side-effects.htm
2) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2015). Traveler’s Health: Destinations.
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/list
3) Vaccines.gov. (2015). Travelling Out of the Country?
http://www.vaccines.gov/travel/index.html
Reviewed July 8, 2015
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith