Nothing screams “Danger Zone!” quite as shrilly as the succession of inoculations one needs in order to visit the tropics. It's hard to believe that our species evolved in a region that is home to such a breathtaking array of microbial life that's all so menacingly well-designed to do us in.
Take a quick look at these disease maps and notice how often East Africa appears in the High Risk areas. Be careful, though. People who look at them too long often draw their knees up to their chests and start rocking back and forth. Whimpering is also a common side effect.
Monica and I went to a local Passport Health clinic a few weeks ago to get inoculated against…well…against East Africa, apparently. Here are the vaccines in the "Highly Recommended" category for visitors to Tanzania:
Take a quick look at these disease maps and notice how often East Africa appears in the High Risk areas. Be careful, though. People who look at them too long often draw their knees up to their chests and start rocking back and forth. Whimpering is also a common side effect.
Monica and I went to a local Passport Health clinic a few weeks ago to get inoculated against…well…against East Africa, apparently. Here are the vaccines in the "Highly Recommended" category for visitors to Tanzania:
- Hepatitis A
- Hepatitis B
- Tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis
- Influenza
- Tuberculosis
- Chicken Pox
- Rabies
- Measles/mumps/rubella
- Typhoid fever
- Yellow fever
As if that's not enough, Tanzania hosts an abundance of other scary biohazards for which there are no vaccines, such as dengue fever, cholera, sleeping sickness, intestinal parasites, and really bad drivers. With so many malicious pathogens (and bad drivers) on the loose in East Africa it makes you wonder how anyone can actually live there, much less visit, outside of a HAZMAT suit. I am rocking back and forth as I write this.
Under the guidance of Ginger, our Pathogen Evasion Specialist (Trademarked!) at Passport Health, Monica and I made a series of weighty decisions about which inoculations to receive.
Under the guidance of Ginger, our Pathogen Evasion Specialist (Trademarked!) at Passport Health, Monica and I made a series of weighty decisions about which inoculations to receive.
Since we don’t intend to play with any animals on our trip, wild or domesticated, we passed on the rabies vaccine. Rabies is deadly, yes, but an unlikely catch.
We also declined the yellow fever vaccine because it turns out that yellow fever isn’t actually a problem in Tanzania. In fact, Tanzania is one of just a handful of tropical nations in which yellow fever isn’t endemic at the moment, and their government wants to keep it that way. They do so by requiring proof of vaccination for anyone entering Tanzania from a country where yellow fever is present. So unless they give me and Mo' a hard time at the airport for our short layover in Ethiopia, we don’t need that inoculation. (USA! USA!)
We also declined the yellow fever vaccine because it turns out that yellow fever isn’t actually a problem in Tanzania. In fact, Tanzania is one of just a handful of tropical nations in which yellow fever isn’t endemic at the moment, and their government wants to keep it that way. They do so by requiring proof of vaccination for anyone entering Tanzania from a country where yellow fever is present. So unless they give me and Mo' a hard time at the airport for our short layover in Ethiopia, we don’t need that inoculation. (USA! USA!)
Mo’ and I are already covered for TB, chicken pox, and measles, and we plan to get tetanus boosters and flu shots from our family doctor next month. So, from the list above, that left just typhoid fever and the hepatitis twins to contend with.
Ginger stabbed us once in each arm. The first jab was for typhoid. One shot, done. Good for three years. The second injection was a vaccine called Twinrix, which covers us for both flavors of hepatitis (A and B). To get full protection, though, we had to go back the following week for another shot and then again, two weeks later, for a third.
Ginger's injections were painless. The faces we're making in the pics below were about the cost, not the discomfort. We each paid $100 for our typhoid jabs and -- brace yourself -- $200 for each of the three shots in the Hep A/B series. Ouch!
Ginger stabbed us once in each arm. The first jab was for typhoid. One shot, done. Good for three years. The second injection was a vaccine called Twinrix, which covers us for both flavors of hepatitis (A and B). To get full protection, though, we had to go back the following week for another shot and then again, two weeks later, for a third.
Ginger's injections were painless. The faces we're making in the pics below were about the cost, not the discomfort. We each paid $100 for our typhoid jabs and -- brace yourself -- $200 for each of the three shots in the Hep A/B series. Ouch!
In addition to the shots, Ginger hooked us up with prescription meds for malaria and for altitude sickness, which are also very expensive. The numbers, in fact, have us feeling a little woozy. By the time Mo' and I are finished getting the rest of our shots and medications, we will have spent nearly a thousand dollars – each! – defending ourselves against Tanzania's pitiless microbes. And we could still end up coming home with dengue fever or cholera.
I'm just going to sit here and rock back a forth for a while. Pay me no mind.
I'm just going to sit here and rock back a forth for a while. Pay me no mind.