Let’s get Immunized (10/31/05)
Okay so we’ve got a framework for the countries we are going to visit. This allows us to get started on our much-needed immunizations. As we discovered we are fortunate to still live in a city like Chicago where Northwestern has its own speciality Travel Clinic. We met Gelie at the clinic and she provided us with a very thorough introduction. We will basically be hitting every major continent and splitting time between major cities and unknown villages. For that reason we will both need almost every immunization in the book. You can’t just get all the shots at once (i.e. 3 rabies shots must be separated by weeks) so Gelie took the time to build a schedule for us and walk through each of the immunizations and diseases they cover. In addition she printed us a dossier on each country we had told her might be included on our trip. These are priceless and so is her help!!
Ok….another item that would have been priceless….Blue Cross/Blue Shield. They are the only carrier that covers non-emergency immunizations. Jeff’s primary doctor saved us some money by helping with two rounds of Hep shots but everything else including Bec’s Hep shots will have to be covered out-of-pocket by us. You may be asking yourself what reasonable charge all of these immunizations are going for these days…drum roll please……..$1,500 per person. OUCH!! (Financially and physically, we could barely move our arms for the first 48 hours) Lesson here is change your insurance to Blue Cross/Blue Shield if you are thinking about travelling. HA! Thought we’d give everyone (parents especially) an idea of what shots we got so you would all understand how safe we are from many of the world’s diseases (except Bird Flu….damn those chickens!!).
Immunizations….Hep A and B, Rabies, Japanese Encephalitis, Polio, Tetanus, Yellow Fever, Meningitis. In addition we will be getting a supply of Malaria pills to take with us for the different strains throughout the world. We all must realize how lucky we are here in America when you look at the disease maps of the world and see the US as the only area exempt from almost every known disease.
Tags: Immunizations, Insurance, Planning, Pre-trip, Travel
Jeff and Becca
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