Traveling and vaccines and emergency medical and transfer insurance

[rachie]

We aren't due to travel til likely in the fall to Eastern Europe but I want to get some questions answered now anyways:

Any suggestions regarding getting the accident/medical travelers insurance?

Vaccines - none of us are vaccinated - we are bringing all three of our NON-vaccinated children with us age 5, 3 and 1 (at time of travel).  I've read that measles is still very much a risk in EE (among other things).  If we were home in the states I think I might actually want them to get over it naturally to get the natural immunity but being away from home without healthcare (except for dire emergency if we get that insurance) - if they were to have any complications from something like that it would be terrible.  So...  I'd love suggestions for when we travel.  We are planning to bring my mother so she can just watch them when we have appointments or errands (minimize their exposure).  And I'm just so upset that I was vaccinated as a child because it means I never caught measles and so I haven't passed down any natural immunity through the placenta to my bio children.  Ugh!  Anyone know is Measles usually pretty mild especially in very healthy children?  Maybe are there natural supplements I should bring along in case they catch it?

And when we are actually boarding the plane are we required to show proof of vaccination or sign some type of waiver?  Anyone know about this?

We are also possibly break our trip into two shorter trips but it would still be "long" to the kids of us being away if we were to leave them and we have to take the youngest because she is still mostly full-time nursing.

[Smithie]

AFAIK, there are no vaccination requirements for travel outside of yellow fever if you're going to certain African countries. 

I take measles very seriously, and all my kids are vaccinated for it. The younger a child is, the more likely they are to die of measles, but as you probably know, American doctors don't typically give the MMR until age of 18 months, so your most at-risk child would be unprotected from measles this fall even if you were doing a standard vax schedule. I don't know what other diseases are currently a problem in that part of the world. 

In your shoes, I'd find a sympathetic doctor and have a detailed discussion about your travel plans. Based on where you plan to go, recommendations could range from anywhere to "don't worry about it, the chances of infection are still quite low" to "maybe one or two well-chosen vaccines are in order here" to "I wouldn't take a unvaxed or selectively vaxed child there at all." 

Here's one list of doctors: http://www.cafemom.com/group/4388/forums/read/2738581/Anti_Vax_Friendly_Docs_List_Directory