Travel Vaccine madness...!

medici

Hi foks, hope I'm posting in the right place here - apologies if not!

Heading to South Korea in the next few months so have been receiving a rake of travel vaccines over the past few weeks from my local GP's clinic. So far so good but they don't provide a jab for Japanes Encephalitis because so few people require it. They recommended I instead get in touch with the Tropical Medical Bureau for it.

Rang the Naas branch who quoted me €110 for the jab (singular) itself but then told me I'd need another consultation with their Dr. bringing the cost up to €170. As I was just pricing for the lowest cost I told them I'd shop around but that I'd be back in touch if unable to find anything better.

Then called the next nearest TMB clinic (Carlow) who quoted me €280 for the consultation and the 2 necessary injections. I told them the fee that their partner branch in Naas quoted me, that it was for one injection and that I'd be back in touch...

Then rang Naas again to say I'd priced around a bit but that I'd been informed it was a 2-part vaccine requiring separate injections spaced 14 days apart. Receptionist in Naas then said something along the lines of...
"Actually I just looked up the website (!?!) and for Japanese Encephalitis, you need 3 injections of the vaccine for it to be effective so it'll probably be more than the €170 I mentioned earlier..."

I was a bit miffed at this muckin' around so said that given the conflicting information I'd received (plus the pricing), I reckon I'd have to do some research of my own before booking an appointment. Just wanted to make this post to see if anyone has had a similar experience to this, but also as a warning to people to get a straight story from the vaccine provider before getting their jabs...

wallpaper12

You dont need that vaccination so dont waste your money

gustafo

wallpaper12 wrote: »

You dont need that vaccination so dont waste your money

i agree a pure waste of money

cassi

The above posters are right you don't need any jabs for Korea! If you plan on travelling after you finish your contract, you can get all the shots you need in Korea for a fraction of the price and many are free there!! I've done this only months ago.

Stinicker

With vaccinations it really depends on what you will be doing in the particular country; if you are going to be hanging out in the major cities staying in westernised hotels then you will be at a far lower risk of catching some things; wheras if you plan to go into the wilds trekking or whatever it is a better idea to get vaccinated.

I myself got a two vaccinations for Thailand after Christmas this year for Hepatitis A and Typhoid (Hepatyrix Vaccine) and for Tetanus, Diptheria and Pertussis (Boostrix Vaccine) from my own GP for €110. Having not made any solid plans I did not get the rabies vaccine and subsequently went trekking in North of Chiang Mai where I had to misfortune to stand down a wild cat who bit my foot, naturally I freaked out thinking I might have caught Rabies and went to a local hospital within 24hours as the vaccine will still work 24 hours after getting bitten and they administered the vaccine.

The vaccine was a 5 injection course over like a month and I then had to get 2 more shots whilst out in Thailand and 2 when I came home costing €50 to the TMB twice and the €75 travel insurance excess for my Thai vaccines so getting a nasty bite from a cat cost me €175 for peace of mind. :eek:

So as above it all depends on what you plan to do when you go to these places.

wallpaper12

He is not going to catch japanese enc unless he plans on going farming over there. Definately a waste of money

dory

Keep shopping around. I found a doctor who charged €30 per consultation. He only charged that for the first jab and for all subsequent visits I only paid for the jab. Keep shopping around and give that TMB a wide berth.

fuddy1

no vaccines needed for south korea. big waste of money. cant believe a GP told you that you needed vaccines!