I have an appointment tomorrow afternoon with a "travel medicine" clinic. I made this appointment in anticipation of needing some vaccines prior to my trip to the exotic lands of Nigeria, Kenya, and Tanzania. I was slightly bitter when they told me that I would be paying out-of-pocket as travel vaccines are considered elective and thus not covered by my insurance. The friendly clinic nurse explained the breakdown of my fees as follows: $65 for the doctor's "consultation fee," the cost of the vaccines, and the fee for the "administration" of the vaccines, which is $38 for the first and $22 apiece for each additional vaccine. This bothers me on all kinds of levels. I am pretty poor at the moment, and the idea of paying someone to do what I am doing now, which is looking up the CDC travel recommendations, and then paying a nurse to jam a needle into my deltoid (which I'd rather not do, but am perfectly willing to do to save some money) irritates me.
In doing my homework on the CDC website and reviewing my immunization cards, (because although I'm sure that my $65 doctor is very smart, I'm not going to trust anyone with my immunity) I have found the following:
1) My previous travels have forced me to get immunized before, against all kinds of things, so my Yellow Fever, Typhoid, and Tetanus are all up-to-date. How many of you can say that? Now if I end up in a trauma bay in the next 2 years I will be able to say with certainty that my tetanus is within the last 10 years.
2) Nigeria is one of the few remaining areas where polio is endemic, much to the distress of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative . It does appear, per their recommendations, that I need an IPV booster shot to complement the polio series I had as a child. After getting my hopes up that I could skip the travel clinic appointment (I'll be going to this appointment post-call, and very sleepy. I'd rather be in bed), this information made me think I should keep my appointment. Otherwise I don't know how I'll get my hands on some polio vaccine.
3) As always, I am traveling to a malaria-endemic area and I will have to spend a lot of money on some Malarone, as the area is chloroquine-resistant and Larium makes me crazy.
Isn't Microbiology great?
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3 comments:
Shannon, is it just Laruim that makes you crazy, or could it be genetic? Just kidding. We are very proud of you and are glad that you have this wonderful opportunity. Hope the travel details get easier.
Aunt P
I'd love to blame it all on the Larium... :) But family knows better....
my yellow fever, typhoid and tetanus are up to date. I wish I could come with you, but I'll stay here and pray.
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