Vaccinations for Infants While Cruising

[Katiusha]

When planning what countries to visit next, do you keep abreast with vaccinations required in each country for infants/kids/toddlers?

Do you actually vaccinate your kids based on what's required in every country?

If so, how do you deal with availability of specific vaccine series supplier, e.g. DTP-IPV? You buy the whole series where the child is first immunized?

Thanks!

[Benz]

We had ours vaccinated for everything the doctors 'stateside would agree to before we left. As far as I know, there are no required vaccinations elsewhere--most Central American countries allow their citizens greater freedom than the US does, in not requiring vaccinations or schooling, or shoes or holding tanks or lifejackets. If your children get sick, doctors in central and south America are either free or very reasonable, and most medicines are readily available without prescription.
I got dengue in Colombia, and the total cost of doctors and medicine and all was $80. I can't get a sore throat that cheaply in the US.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Benz

We had ours vaccinated for everything the doctors 'stateside would agree to before we left...

Something to be aware of, whether child or adult, is that docs may recommend stuff that is really not necessary and maybe not good for you either. Do your homework and go to an experienced "travel" doc or clinic who actually knows the part of the world where you are traveling.

For example, some people get prescribed anti-malaria meds for visiting Guatemala. We have a very mild strain of malaria (more like a mild flu and wont kill you) here which is easily treatable with readily available meds whereas the anti-malaria meds are bad for you and the odds you've getting malaria here are not in fact very high anyway.

Also, if you or your child do pick up a disease in a foreign country you will probably be better off being treated there (assuming you are somewhere with decent medical care). The problem is that the docs back in developed countries generally have no experience with these diseases. I know people who have come down here to tropics, picked up something that can be routinely and easily treated here, gone back to the USA and lived a medical nightmare. Case in point, girl about 8 years old got a "bot fly" larva infestation, really no big deal, a doc in the USA chose to do SURGERY under general anesthesia (not just local) to remove the bot fly larvae! Damn near killed her due to bad reaction to the anesthesia -- for something any third world doc could have dealt with safely and easily.

[atoll]

bcg,polio,tetanus and yellow fever are all my kids had
apart from taking anti malarials,though my daughter stil managedt o have malaria twice and caught thyphoid whilst in hopital from another child!

[bobconnie]

When we started out yrs ago our kids were YOUNG LOL and we had them vaccinated for all the stuff that the gov shot up there sailors going to the Western Pacific,(in fact an old friend at the local navy yard did the shots for free) Of course we never had any problems !! now Connie had the shots also! I did not, We were all healthy except for a few colds in 18 20 yrs !! These days ya can get treatment and good treatment almost anywhere ya travel in the Carib and the Pacific, and as folks have said, maybe better for the Local sickness,s the doctors in central and south america mostly were trained in the US in large hospitals and have good equipment to work with !! so now we would just get kids shot with the Normal stuff they would need at home !! Just our 2 cents

[rebel heart]

We have a two year old and another on the way. We have a great doctor, plus a friend of ours is a physician who's done a lot of traveling. It's a personal choice and it's basically looking at the real implication of someone getting sick. Compromised immune systems, asthma, a history of other problems, and other issues can mean someone might want to be vaccine'd up than someone else. Also, you can vaccines cheaper in most other countries than you can the US.

Some diseases really are quite nasty. I had strep throat for a week and it reminded me just how bad a no-kidding infectious fever can be. The neurological ones are even worse. If your kid gets yellow fever, you're going to feel like a real dirt bag for not getting them vaccinated in advance. So just check the realistic risk, and get what you need. The CDC has a list of travel doctors that you can at least consult with.

[micah719]

What's the availability of genuine mercury-containing FDA-approved vaccines in the third world? Wouldn't want the kiddies missing out on all the good stuff from home....

[bobconnie]

Gee Micha, I think your humor is getting a little deep !!! Mercury for kids ?? what are ya trying to say ?? I sometimes make an attempt to understand your humor but I guess it's the fact it's not you main language maybe ?? Or maybe you don't have kids? or ya just want to make a point ?? sorry but we are completely dumbfounded by what you said?? Just wondering ??

[micah719]

Something was nagging me (you're not telepathic are you Bob?) so I came back to edit my thread, but the cement had already hardened.

Here are two sources I checked to make sure my memory about vaccinations hadn't deceived me.....I should have included them in my post.

As for my sick twisted "humour".....I often resort to it when frustration and rage at this sick world threaten to overcome me or send me into despair. I love children even though I have none of my own...and considering that in this country children are considered property of The State, I refuse to procreate until I can be better prepared to guarantee my offspring's and procreation accomplice's safety....ie, afloat. If I've offended anyone, I apologise and will try harder in future to be more rational about things like this.

On the topic of vaccinations....ok, there may be some good in it, there have been some wonderful improvements in health in the past because of them, for instance smallpox, tetanus, measles, rubella, whooping cough, etc. But, there are way too many things we are not told, but available for folks to search out. I should have confined myself to merely supplying the links as a duty of care to those with little ones. I'll spare you the things I'd like to do to someone if I had irrefutable proof they were knowingly poisoning children, especially by deceiving the parents into conscientiously doing it for them. Watch out, it's a nasty world.

FDA admits in court case that vaccines still contain mercury
EMAILS FROM CDC AND FDA ON VACCINES AND MERCURY - AGE OF AUTISM

[bobconnie]

Micah, I believe the type of vacinations we are speaking of, Yellow fever, and many other vacines for tropical Illnesses, Contain little or no mercury, and many of them are somthing most all children should be Vacinated for before going to out of the way places around the world ! lot's of folks like myself do not get the shots as Im Old and have been lucky with my health, and have had no sickness as yet, of any type! (bunchs of trama LOL) But always made sure the kids and Connie had all the shots recomended by travel doctors. We are lucky as we have a travel Doc in the family and that helps a big bunch ! I guess ya could say we think kids should be as safe as we can make it ! I can understand why you might not wish to get Vacinations, but we are speaking about kids and shots!! Heck here in the states schools require that children have many Vacinations just to go to school !!

[rebel heart]

Many countries simply won't let you enter unless you have certain vaccinations.

A lot of people are still under the belief that medicine outside of the Untied States (and other white European descendant nations) consists of shotty witch doctors using expired medications brewed up by barely educated natives that are reading out of a book.

When my wife told someone she was going to have our second daughter delivered in Mexico, someone responded in all seriousness, "Yeah I guess people have been having babies in fields for thousands of years."

The view that many Americans have of the rest of the world is so warped it's stunning.

[micah719]

Yeah, but it's hard to work out which of the vaccinations are beneficial and the ones that are not. 1 in 88 US children have autism, which was very rare a couple of generations ago, practically unheard of. We're being had.

[foolishsailor]

Originally Posted by micah719

Something was nagging me (you're not telepathic are you Bob?) so I came back to edit my thread, but the cement had already hardened.

Here are two sources I checked to make sure my memory about vaccinations hadn't deceived me.....I should have included them in my post.

As for my sick twisted "humour".....I often resort to it when frustration and rage at this sick world threaten to overcome me or send me into despair. I love children even though I have none of my own...and considering that in this country children are considered property of The State, I refuse to procreate until I can be better prepared to guarantee my offspring's and procreation accomplice's safety....ie, afloat. If I've offended anyone, I apologise and will try harder in future to be more rational about things like this.

On the topic of vaccinations....ok, there may be some good in it, there have been some wonderful improvements in health in the past because of them, for instance smallpox, tetanus, measles, rubella, whooping cough, etc. But, there are way too many things we are not told, but available for folks to search out. I should have confined myself to merely supplying the links as a duty of care to those with little ones. I'll spare you the things I'd like to do to someone if I had irrefutable proof they were knowingly poisoning children, especially by deceiving the parents into conscientiously doing it for them. Watch out, it's a nasty world.

FDA admits in court case that vaccines still contain mercury
EMAILS FROM CDC AND FDA ON VACCINES AND MERCURY - AGE OF AUTISM

But what you didnt post was the fact that only the TD vaccine and some flu shots still contains mercury. Also we are talking about 3 micrograms, less mercury than a child would get in a year eating fish.

My mother is a microbiologist and i grew up in the medical world as such. Some of the total ***** i hear about autism and vaccines is unreal. There is NO evidence. The only evidence ever produced and now quoted everywhere turned out to be totally fabricated and the individual in question ended up being charged and going to prison as the faulty evidence was used for his own person gain.

Yes we in the states and mostly in western europe give too many vaccines in too tight of a timeframe, it is hard on little immune systems. However with a good doctor who will work with you, you can generally create a better vaccine schedule.

Having a doctor who is also specialized in expedition medicine, as we have, or one familiar with the needs of other countries also helps tremendously.

Most of the things we are vaccinatd against are issues that are compounded by population density. Contrary to what many landlubbers think it is actually safer to sail than stay at port in terms of infectious disease.

No one wants encephalitis at sea, but your odds of exposure are literally exponetially less based on the population density of your last port of call.

The only main vaccinne that i am aware of that you need for children to travel safely and is required is for yellow fever. You can get this one safely at 9 months

[foolishsailor]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

Many countries simply won't let you enter unless you have certain vaccinations.

A lot of people are still under the belief that medicine outside of the Untied States (and other white European descendant nations) consists of shotty witch doctors using expired medications brewed up by barely educated natives that are reading out of a book.

When my wife told someone she was going to have our second daughter delivered in Mexico, someone responded in all seriousness, "Yeah I guess people have been having babies in fields for thousands of years."

The view that many Americans have of the rest of the world is so warped it's stunning.

Very true, and if you look at infant mortality rates for example you will see where american medicine really stands in relation to world medicine, not number one...

[foolishsailor]

Originally Posted by micah719

Yeah, but it's hard to work out which of the vaccinations are beneficial and the ones that are not. 1 in 88 US children have autism, which was very rare a couple of generations ago, practically unheard of. We're being had.

Correlation is not causation. If has been shown clearly and evidentially that the dramatic change in autism is due soley to an increase in understanding the spectrum of autism, better reporting due to reduced stigma, better identification and treament, and better reporting and tracking methods internationally. This is the case for many disorders that had any sort of stigma attached.