Holy Shots, Batman!

Our trip is officially one month away from today and we just went into the local clinic to get our foreign travel shots (specific shots for the area of the world we’re going, which is South East Asia).

Shawna and I walked out of the clinic with two sore arms and shocked looks on our faces, because of the abuse our bank account took from getting these shots.
Guess, just take a guess at how much you think these shots took out of our travel budget…Fine, we’ll tell you!
$579 FOR THE FIRST ROUND OF SHOTS!!! Our second round of shots, that we have to take two days before we fly out of Nebraska, won’t be as much…in comparison, a mere $300 . But, that doesn’t include our Melfloquine pills we have to take once a week to avoid getting ‘Malaria’ from the pesky mosquitos, that’s $340 for a six months supply (for two people).

Who would’ve thought that getting the needed vacines and oral medications to go overseas would be SO expensive? We didn’t!

This is the sort of stuff that we would’ve liked to know ahead of time. Oh well, we live, we learn & you benefit.

If you’re interested in ‘per person costs’ , please read below:

• Hepatitis A Vaccine = $86 per shot (you will need a minimum of 2 shots before you leave and they must be 28 days apart from each other…it’s recommended to get 3 shots, starting at a minimum of 6 months from when you’re going to leave.)
• Twinrix Vaccine = $150 per shot (This is a Combination of Hepatitis A & Hepatits B Vaccine in one shot – I received this because, unlike my wife, I’ve never had a ‘Hep B’ vaccine before.)
• Typhoid Vaccine = $88 per shot (This is something that is common in the rural parts of Asia and because of this, a must have…according to our nurse.)
• Tetanus Vaccine = $50 per shot (Most people get these ‘something like’ every 10 years at their physicals; I however, haven’t had a physical in a while.)
• Melfloquine Oral Medication to prevent Malaria = $170 for 6 month supply (This pill is taken once a week. We could have gotten the cheaper version which has to be taken everyday we’re away, but that’s just too much to remember and too many pills to carry around.)
• Nurse fees = $50 – $80 to administer the shots (This will probably fluctuate depending on your local clinic or hospital.)

Even though we weren’t expecting our pre-travel vaccines and medications to cost us this much money (roughly $600/per person after it’s all said and done), we’re happy to find out the hard way if our experience will help someone else better prepare themselves.

One last thing to remember before you go vowing ‘never to go overseas because it’s too expensive’, these shots are an investment in your world wide travel…most of them they won’t have to be done again because once you’re vaccinated, you’re vaccinated; The ones that need to be renewed just have to be done every 10 years or so(that’s more than enough time to let your arms and your pocket book heal)!

Please let us know if you have any questions, otherwise, have an Awesome day!
~Chais & Shawna Meyer