Gilberto

I just came from a visit to a Travel Health Specialit and I was schocked by the price of the vaccines (around 800 dollars). The recommended shots includes: Hepatitis A-B, Meningitis, Typhoid, Polio and Malaria medications. My in-progress itinerary will include: Delhi, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Samode and Agra (13 days) and finishing 5 days in Bangkok. The trip is schedule from January 22-February 11, 2005. Is there any less costly way to get those shots?

fromMA

Im not sure if this is the same as a travel health specialist but we went to a foreign travel health clinic at our local hospital (Boston). While we didnt need all the shots you need as we were just going to Hong Kong and Beijing, there was a $35 cost with the rest picked up by insurance. If you live in a large metropolitian area you should call the teaching hospitals. Good luck.

Kathie

In the US, some Public health departments (run by the county, city or state) have discounted prices on vaccines. Often such things as Hep A & B and polio will be picked up by your health insurance even if the others won't.

rhkkmk

we are also in boston and our costs were always covered by our HMO in full except for the co-pay ($10)...i do understand that they are expensive....try shopping around...do you have a teaching hospital in your area?? that might be cheaper...ours is harvard affiliated....not too wise to go without them, especially in india...

cwn

We went to group of travel speciality Drs. The cost of each shot/vaccine was $100 or more. We could then send the bill to our insurance-they wouldn't file for us. The insurance probably would only pay a small portion of the total cost anyway. I took the recommended list to our family Dr, had to see him anyway for other travel meds. He would do all he had for the insur. office visit co-pay - Typhoid, DPT, Flu, Polio and Hepatitis A. Meningitis and Malaria were not recommended, but we are not going to the same places as you. We did get the Hepatitis A-B shots at the travel Dr. Since our gradchildren are required to have Hepatitis B thought the combo was worth it.

CFW

Kathie, Good suggestion. We live in Connecticut near Yale and contacted the Yale travel health clinic to get information. For starters there was a $175 consultation fee and the vaccines were equally expensive and our health insurance doesn't cover any of this. The receptionist actually suggested that we contact the health department and said it would be half the cost.

gromeo

Call your county health dept. We've gotten our shots there and it is less expensive. My husband just got Typhoid, DPT and Hep A for about $90. The typhoid shot was the expensive one, almost 1/2 the total cost. I did go to my doctor for my DPT shot. She also prescribed my malaria pills. My insurance picked both of those up.

BTW - Do many of you take the malaria pills for Thailand? I've taken them whenever I've had to go to India, but last time I felt a bit weird and am hoping to get by with 100% DEET Off spray in Thailand. We're not camping out anywhere, but will be on a dive boat for a few days.

NoFlyZone

If you live near a major seaport there is probably a clinic there which specializes in these matters. The Sunshine Clinic in Miami, for example, did my whole sequence of shots for about $300.

Kathie

Anti-malarials are only recommended for small parts of Thailand (mostly the northern border areas). I did take malarone when I spent a week in the Golden Triangle of Thailand. Do read all the info on malaria at www.cdc.gov/travel so you are informed before discussing it with your doctor.

There is no reason to use 100% deet. It is not recommended for application to skin. A deet repellant with 25-50% deet is best. Remember that you must apply it to all exposed skin. Some people thought they were protected by "dotting" on 100% deet, but it doesn't work that way.

Guenmai

Yes, the shots are expensive. I just sent a friend to a health clinic here in Pasadena,Ca to get his shots and he paid about $95.00 a shot since he had no health insurance. I was lucky and only had to pay $5.00 for four shots....Hepatitis, Yellow Fever(for Ghana), Tetanus and Meningitis...plus 21 Malarone pills. My HMO medical center provided the shots and picked up the tab for the rest of the expense. My friend didn't mention paying anything for a consultation though. If you live in the L.A. area, I can post the health center he went to. Happy Travels!

jacketwatch

Hopefully your insurance will pay some of the cost. If they refuse remind them how much more it will cost them if you become ill and require med. treatment.

fromMA

The travel clinic also turned us on to www.medexassist.com. This insurance is pretty inexpensive and you can look on their web page to see what they do for you should there be a serious accident or illness. I thought it was a prudent thing to do. Good luck

Kathie

fromMA, you bring up a good point about insurance. The only insurance I buy is medical evacuation insurance. Medical evacuation costs a LOT (often $50,000 - $75,000). Because I do have some medical coverage from my insurance world-wide (and medical costs are much lower elsewhere than in the US), I fugire medical evacuation insurance is all I need. The least expensive source for this is to join Divers Alert Network. You don't have to be a diver to do this. The membership comes with $100,000 medical evacuation insurance. (They also sell various types of travel insurance). I think I pay US$44 a year for both of us. It covers you any time you are more than 100 miles from home. www.diversalertnetwork.org

Gilberto

Thanks to all for the replies and recommendations. Up to now, no luck. I live in Puerto Rico and the Health Department gave us a list of Travel specialists to get the shots. I call four of them and there are little variations in prices among them. Are all of this shots a must, or can you overlook some of them, and try to be extremely careful with your higiene to avoid any possible infections?

Wanda1

Hola Gilberto, My insurance picked up malarone pills (for malaria) because they were pills and this was covered. The polio and tetanus shots were booster shots so they were covered. Escribeme a [email protected] una puertoriquena

fromMA

Gilberto. I just read what NoFlyZone suggested. I have an idea...fly to Miami for a mini vacation and go to the clinic he suggested....it may cost you the $800 that you may have to spend in total but you get a vacation too....grin , just trying to lighten things up

Gilberto

MA: Hmmm! Not a bad idea. Worth to consider. I have family no too far from there. Will look if Sunshine clinic has a website and inquire.

Thanks