Last updated on February 7th, 2024 at 10:24 pm
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This post is the fifth in a series that I am doing on preparing to move abroad. If you have been dreaming of long-term travel or moving abroad, this will be a great resource in your planning. I plan to cover the stages of planning and what you need to consider before taking a big trip like this as well as all the emotions leading up to it. I will be posting weekly. Hope you will join me on this journey before the journey!
In preparation for our year of long-term travel, I spent some time determining what travel vaccines we would need for Southeast Asia and beyond. When traveling abroad, it is extremely important to make sure that you are aware of the potential diseases in the area and the vaccines or medications that can help you prevent them. Note that I am not a doctor, I am just sharing my experience in case it might be helpful to you. Please discuss the vaccines that you need for travel with your doctor.
Ask Your Primary Care Doctor About Travel Vaccines
In February, I started looking into vaccines and medical prep that we need to do before our trip. The CDC recommends quite a few vaccines for the countries in Southeast Asia that we will be visiting. I wasn’t sure if all of them were really necessary or where I would go about getting them. I scheduled an annual appointment with my primary care doctor (also a good thing to do before departing on a trip around the world), hoping they could administer some of the vaccines. My doctor recommended that I google public health in the county that I live in and make an appointment with them. The public health clinic will be more likely to have all the needed vaccines on hand and consult on which ones we need. Luke and I immediately made an appointment.
My primary care doctor was able to administer the COVID omicron booster during my check up, which I had dragged my feet on getting. The booster is not required for travel, but proof of the regular vaccine is still required for certain countries (like Malaysia). Make sure you check the COVID requirements before you travel even though most places seem to have eased up on restrictions. I have already had COVID three times so I am hoping having the vaccine booster will help me avoid it this year while we are traveling around the world. Now I just need Luke to make an appointment (he hates needles so it’s always a struggle).
Visiting the Public Health Clinic
Immediately after my last post, we went to Houston for the weekend. It was great to see everyone and they were surprisingly supportive of the trip. When we got back to Colorado, Luke and I visited the public health clinic. We went to Passport Health in Lakewood. They were extremely helpful and thorough. We discussed with the nurse where we were planning to go and for how long, as well as places that we might end up going. We both brought our vaccine records, which is very helpful for getting accurate advice. Again, I am not a doctor, so this is not medical advice. Please visit a public health clinic or your primary care doctor to get medical recommendations.
Vaccine Recommendations for Travel
The nurse recommended several vaccines for our year of long-term travel. Japanese Encephalitis, transferred through mosquitos, can cause permanent neurological damage and is found throughout Southeast Asia. Since we are spending four months in that area, she recommended getting that one for sure. The vaccine against Japanese Encephalitis is a two-shot series with an optional third shot for a 5-10 year immunity. The first two shots must be taken 28 days apart. The third shot can be administered one to two years after the second shot.
She also recommended Typhoid, TDAP, and Polio. TDAP is really recommended every five years regardless, but both Luke and I are not up to date. Polio hasn’t been eradicated in all countries and the vaccine was one shot that lasts for a lifetime. It wasn’t very expensive so we decided to get vaccinated against that. Typhoid is still pretty common in many countries, particularly in Southeast Asia, so we decided to get that vaccine as well.
Ultimately, we decided to get the vaccines for Typhoid and Polio at this appointment and then return to the clinic about a month and a half prior to our departure to get the first round of the Japanese Encephalitis vaccine, followed by the second round 28 days later. We both decided to get the TDAP vaccine from our primary care doctor since they automatically bill insurance and insurance will cover it. I am really thankful we started this process about three months out so we had plenty of time to get everything we needed. While you can get almost all of these vaccines at the same time, that didn’t sound enjoyable to me.
For Typhoid, there was an option to orally take a pill every other day for eight days, which provides longer immunity, or get two shots. Luke hates getting shots so he preferred to do the pill. I decided to do it with him. I’ve never taken a vaccine via a pill before so that was very interesting. You have to keep it in the fridge because it is essentially live Typhoid, and it will die if it is at room temperature. You also couldn’t have any food for an hour after you took the pill if you took it in the morning. We both endured some stomach issues while taking this vaccine orally.
Will US insurance cover travel vaccines?
Vaccines are expensive and insurance doesn’t necessarily cover them all unless they are considered normal, preventative care. Make sure you check your insurance coverage for vaccines. The Passport Health Clinic doesn’t bill insurance, so if you want to see if insurance will cover any of the costs, you have to send the bill yourself. Check with the clinic you visit to see if they will bill insurance. Otherwise, the Typhoid oral vaccine cost about $300, the Polio vaccine cost about $150, and the Japanese Encephalitis vaccine cost about $515 per shot. We used our HSA for these costs.
Were there any vaccines we didn’t get?
Obviously, you don’t have to get everything that is recommended, but that is a risk that I prefer not to take for the most part. I tend to be a hypochondriac about these things so I would rather have peace of mind. We still aren’t sure if we will get the rabies vaccine (which only extends the amount of time to get to care from 24 hours to 48 hours, it doesn’t actually prevent rabies) because it is a three-shot series and each shot is $500.
We discussed getting the yellow fever vaccine, which we might need if we traveled to certain areas of South America, including Colombia. Since we aren’t sure yet if we will be going to Colombia, we decided to hold off on that one for now and possibly get the vaccine in Europe if needed.
Read More: How We Are Preparing for One Year of Travel
Diseases Without Vaccines
There are some things that you can’t get vaccinated against. Malaria, which is present on Koh Samui in Thailand, is prevented by taking a pill every day during the duration of your trip plus a few days before and after. The number of days required to take the pill and the side effects vary depending on which type of malaria prevention medication is prescribed. I have heard that some of the side effects can be pretty bad, so definitely talk to your doctor if you have concerns. Malaria medication is something that both my doctor and the public health clinic offered to prescribe.
Dengue fever, which is also transmitted via mosquitos, has no vaccine. The mortality rate isn’t too bad the first time you get it, but the second time it is much worse. The best prevention for this is insect repellent which includes DEET. This is the insect repellent that we purchased because it is a lotion and lasts 12 hours (paid link).
Learning about all of the different diseases that we would be exposed to was a little stressful, but I feel better knowing we are preparing as best we can. Have you received travel vaccines before? Check back next week because we have decided on a few destinations we will be visiting in Europe on our trip around the world!
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