In the movie ‘Shaun of the Dead’, Shaun’s mother remarks that she and her husband had holidayed in the Isle of Man, so they’d had all their shots. I found that a bit strange. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were shots to take to go to a developing country or maybe a tropical one, even, but the Isle of Man? What diseases are the concern there?
What kinds of vacinations are needed to travel other places that you might not expect?
That sounds like a joke to me: you would not need any shots to go to the Isle of Man, even though it’s outside the UK.
When we first went down to the Yucutan, we got hep A vaccines (we no longer need boosters, as the antibodies are now up to speed- might need a booster in 10 years or so). There are some fevers that you can also get vaccinated against if you are travelling to South America or Africa.
If I was going to a malarial country, I would get whatever vaccinations I could. My BIL’s dad had malaria, and it was bad news. It would flare up throughout his life, causing lots of pain and problems.
For my upcoming trip to India I need -
Hep A
Tetanus-diphtheria
Typhoid
Polio
… and a prescription for anti-malarial pills.
Fortunately I already had Hep B. Oddly enough, a few of these vacinations are not covered by my insurance. Apparently they’d rather pay for my polio treatment, instead of a $50 shot.
I think that because polio is so rare in the US, chances are you would never need the shot, having been vaccinated (I am assuming) as a child.
It’s not that odd. Assuming you have already had the primary series of polio vaccinations, your chances of getting polio are tiny. Although India has the second highest incidence of polio (after Nigeria), there have only been 155 cases of polio reported there this year (as of 8/8/06) and most of the cases are in just three states. The overall rate is less than 4 cases per million people per year. So unless you plan to move to one of those three state more or less permanently, your insurance company has little to worry about. Nevertheless, I got the jab. It’s cheap, safe, and just one dose for the rest of your life.
Typhoid is rare in the U.S., just 322 cases in 2004, so unless you travel, the insurance company has little to worry about, and if you travel, they probably figure it’s your problem.
Diphtheria and tetanus are also rare enough (0 and 34 cases, respectively, in 2004) that its a fairly safe bet for your insurance company to not pay for the vaccine. (But lockjaw is bad enough that I get a tetanus-diphtheria booster every 10 years to be on the safe side.) It’s cheap, and safe, and you can now get the new, improved Tdap vaccine which includes protection against pertussis (whooping cough) which is NOT rare. (Although pertussis is not rare and can be debilitating, it is a rare cause of hospitalization in adults and therefore not a worry to your insurance company.)
Hepatitis A is not terribly rare in the U.S., with 5683 cases reported in 2004 and almost certainly many more than that not reported. Did your insurance company pay for that one?
As for residents of England getting shots to go to the Isle of Man, that’s a joke.
However…
And…
Both from CDC’s travel website for Western Europe (including the the UK).
Only on the SDMB, installment 384: A joke about the least exotic overseas holiday possible from the UK becomes a link-fest about tropical diseases