It's less than a week until senior editor Norie Quintos's trip to Kenya
with her teen sons. In this posting, the third in a series of blogs on
her trip, she covers vaccinations/medicines. Find the first and second posts here.
The glossy catalogs filled with pages of majestic elephants, lions in mid-roar, or huggable
baby cheetahs rarely, if ever, mention the vaccinations or medications
you'll need for an African safari. The catalogs' job is to romance and
seduce, and not until you have fallen hard for Africa do you receive the
get-down-to-business, no-more-cute-animal-photos information packet with
"optional, recommended" travel health precautions against the scary
tropical diseases you could catch.
The list of vaccinations is daunting, and includes Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Meningitis, Typhoid, Rabies, and Yellow Fever. The vaccines are also eye-poppingly expensive and not generally covered by insurance. The good news is you may not need every single one; it depends on your specific itinerary, your length of stay, your planned activities, and your health. To suss this out, you'll need the help of an experienced travel clinician. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website details recommended vaccines and links to an external clearinghouse of travel clinics.
The glossy catalogs filled with pages of majestic elephants, lions in mid-roar, or huggable
baby cheetahs rarely, if ever, mention the vaccinations or medications
you'll need for an African safari. The catalogs' job is to romance and
seduce, and not until you have fallen hard for Africa do you receive the
get-down-to-business, no-more-cute-animal-photos information packet with
"optional, recommended" travel health precautions against the scary
tropical diseases you could catch. The list of vaccinations is daunting, and includes Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Meningitis, Typhoid, Rabies, and Yellow Fever. The vaccines are also eye-poppingly expensive and not generally covered by insurance. The good news is you may not need every single one; it depends on your specific itinerary, your length of stay, your planned activities, and your health. To suss this out, you'll need the help of an experienced travel clinician. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website details recommended vaccines and links to an external clearinghouse of travel clinics.
Continue reading Staying Healthy on a Kenyan Family Safari.
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