Would you vaccinate your child for a trip to Spain?

[Katherine4]

My 16 month old has not been vaccinated. I haven't decided what the long term vaccination picture will be for us, but up to now, I've been uncomfortable with the idea of vaccinating her before the age of 2.

But...we are planning on going to Spain (north of Madrid) in June for a wedding and suddenly I'm feeling especially worried. Should I be? I really have no knowledge of the vaccination policy in Spain (I'm assuming it is somewhat similar to what is expected here in the U.S.). And I don't know if certain diseases more commonly appear in Spain.

If you have any personal knowledge of the vax/incidence of disease situation in Spain, I would love to hear from you. If you have any thoughts in general about traveling to Europe by plane and vaccinating, please share, as well!! I would really appreciate hearing from you!

Thanks very much for reading!

Katherine

[japonica]

You should be able to check online (the WHO site I believe) for reported cases of VADs and for the vaccine schedule in Spain to see what they routinely vaccinate for.

ETA. Found the links for you:
http://www.who.int/immunization_moni...cfm?C='esp'

http://www.who.int/countries/esp/en/

You may want to take into consideration that if the trip is in June and it's now mid-April, you may not get a whole series complete anyway before travelling.

FWIW, I've brought our kids overseas and number of times, to Europe, through Asia, and now living in Australia, completely unvaxed.

[Marnica]

Doesn't sound like you will be in third world conditions. Personally I wouldn't consider it for a trip to Spain.

http://www.who.int/immunization_moni...ntry.cfm?C=ESP

[Katherine4]

Thank you so much for responding! I checked out the links and here is some information I found. Below is the incidence of diseases in Spain in the last several years. The bolded number in each row is the incidence in 2008. Do any of those numbers seem high to you? Relative to the total population, they don't seem high to me, so it does put my mind at ease a bit to see that. How worrisome are the measles and mumps for a toddler??

Number of reported cases (Click for full incidence time series from 1980 for Spain)

Diphtheria 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
Japanese encephalitis - 0 - - - - - -
Measles 297 267 362 22 26 152 21'650 145'322
Mumps 3'816 10'337 6'797 2'349 - 9'391 - -
Pertussis 563 556 378 295 - 921 10'075 -
Polio * 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 17
Rubella 70 69 87 592 - 345 - -
Rubella (CRS) 1 0 0 5 0 1 - -
Tetanus (neonatal) 0 0 0 0 0 0 - -
Tetanus (total) 15 11 18 18 16 27 54 500
Yellow fever 0 0 0 0 0 0

Thanks again so much!!

[Fyrestorm]

Vaccinating for a trip to Spain wouldn't have even crossed my radar. I thought about it for our trip to Egypt, but if I were going anywhere in Europe, I wouldn't have even considered it.

As far as the flight, VPDs are the least of your worries...Up the Vit. D and hope you don't end up with the slew of colds and other viruses that are unvaccinatable and in abundance on a flight.

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by Katherine4

Thank you so much for responding! I checked out the links and here is some information I found. Below is the incidence of diseases in Spain in the last several years. The bolded number in each row is the incidence in 2008. Do any of those numbers seem high to you? Relative to the total population, they don't seem high to me, so it does put my mind at ease a bit to see that. How worrisome are the measles and mumps for a toddler??

Number of reported cases (Click for full incidence time series from 1980 for Spain)

Diphtheria 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
Japanese encephalitis - 0 - - - - - -
Measles 297 267 362 22 26 152 21'650 145'322
Mumps 3'816 10'337 6'797 2'349 - 9'391 - -
Pertussis 563 556 378 295 - 921 10'075 -
Polio * 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 17
Rubella 70 69 87 592 - 345 - -
Rubella (CRS) 1 0 0 5 0 1 - -
Tetanus (neonatal) 0 0 0 0 0 0 - -
Tetanus (total) 15 11 18 18 16 27 54 500
Yellow fever 0 0 0 0 0 0

Thanks again so much!!

No those numbers don't seem high. Treated correctly measles shouldn't be worrisome. Vit A is the key and avoid anelgesics like tylenol. Mumps is often so mild, it goes undetected. It can be unpleasant if the glands get very swollen, but again I wouldn't worry about it. Look at this

http://www.who.int/immunization_moni...ntry.cfm?C=ESP

The coverage rates for measles vax 94-98%, yet there are still a few cases being reported....

[Rico'sAlice]

We took DS to Europe at 4mo and 15mo. We went to Germany with side trips into Austria, Italy, Czech Republic, and Switzerland. We never considered getting vax just for the trip. Anything that was more prevelant there than here was not something we were particularly afraid of dealing with. (Like mumps, rubella.)

[Brownie~]

DS went to Brazil and Barbados unvaxed when he was under the age of 2. I wouldn't worry about going to Europe unvaxed, personally.

[Andreas]

Hi Katherine,

the situation in Spain is not much different from the rest of Europe.Two years agao we had some outbreaks of measles here in Switzerland, but not very bad. I would not worry to go to Spain.

Andi

[Chloebelle]

We took our unvaxed 7 month old to Poland and Germany and it didn't cross my mind.

[CrazyCatLady]

I wouldn't worry about it or do any vaxes. Have a fun trip.

[Addy's Mom]

I did it for Egypt, because we spend a lot of time there. I would not have done it for Spain.

[KoalaMommy]

I took my daughter at age 1 to France, Germany and Switzerland. At the time she was completely unvaxed. I wouldn't jump to vax for a trip to Europe anymore than I'd worry about the US. 3rd world is a little different, but I wouldn't worry about Spain.