Vaccines & Overseas Question

[Healthy Skeptic]

I have not been here in a few years, but knew this was the place for an answer to my question.   I myself used to run a vaccine board 3 years ago.  But have not been up to date since then.  I have 4 kids all who have not been vaccinated.  The oldest is almost 12 so this is not new to me.

Now my question.  I am interested in someday going overseas.  I am unsure of the laws and regulations concerning vaccination in these cases.  I am not so worried about the other countries as I am my own.  I am curious if the US will have problems with us coming back in.

Also are their any safe vaccines out there?  I saw in a recent magazine my kids get that they use and oral vaccine for polio now and they claim that this vaccine is what has almost eradicated polio in other countries.  I was thinking that oral can't possibly be as bad as injection into the blood stream, but I could just be naive.

Has anyone successfully gone overseas without the vaccine requirements?  If so how did you fair?  Did you get ill and if so what did you do?

I wish I was more up to date on this info, but alas I just have not had the time to research.  So I have come here first.  I hope you can help me.    Audy

[member234098]

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Edited by member234098 - 5/23/12 at 6:10pm

[slmommy]

I am not 100% sure, but I believe the only vax really required for entry to some nations is Yellow Fever. There is a list here: http://www.who.int/ith/ITH2009Countrylist.pdf

[Healthy Skeptic]

Originally Posted by miriam 

 If you go somewhere that has lots of disease, one should ask you why you are going there.  http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/vis/downloads/vis-yf.pdf

If and when we travel it will most likely to be missionaries in low income, high disease places.  I plan on only going in the United States at first as there are plenty of Americans in need of service.  I wish to teach our kids to serve others and this is a great way to do that.  We already serve in ways that are more local just want to broaden our horizons.

I dislike vaccines big time.  I am sure we will go to the countries that require yellow fever vaccine.  No way of getting out of that?  Well I guess we will try and stay away from those countries.

[Healthy Skeptic]

Originally Posted by miriam 

The oral polio vaccine is the source of the ONLY cases of polio in the United States from 1979-1999.  http://voices.yahoo.com/why-whos-news-release-polio-nigeria-nonsense-597609.html?cat=70

http://www.immunize.org/vis/opv-00.pdf

Figures.  Thanks, I knew I was not up-to-date on things.  Guess I had the hope that they were tying to do something safer now that so many know about the dangers.  I probably knew about this and have forgotten.  It has been so long since I have studied this info.

[Healthy Skeptic]

Originally Posted by slmommy 

I am not 100% sure, but I believe the only vax really required for entry to some nations is Yellow Fever. There is a list here: http://www.who.int/ith/ITH2009Countrylist.pdf

Thanks for the info.

[nukuspot]

I flew with my DD to the UK when she was a year old. No one asked me anything about vaccines either coming nor going.

[member234098]

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Edited by member234098 - 5/23/12 at 6:10pm

[Healthy Skeptic]

Thanks so much!

[bluedaisy]

I took my nonvaxed 18 month old to Nairobi, Kenya for 3 months.  DH is from Kenya and my sister in law who lives in Nairobi doesn't vaccinate her son.  We didn't have any problems at all.

We are planning to move to Kampala, Uganda in a few months.  I haven't given my kids any vaxes yet but am still researching.

Most diseases in these countries are in areas where there is bad sanitation, poor hygiene, crowded living conditions, and malnutrition.  Most missionaries live in pretty comfortable areas and don't have any of those risk factors for disease.  If you decide to go, I would suggest you research each disease to see what the risk is in the city where you are going.  I personally would rather have my children get some of the diseases (measles, mumps, chicken pox, Hep A) and get lifelong immunity rather than risk the vaccines.  It sounds like you would likely be going when your children are older and may be at less risk of complications if you decided to give a vaccine or two.  But also there are no vaxes for many of the diseases that would be most prevalent (malaria and diarrheal diseases, for example)

Yellowfever is not required if you are coming from the US or Europe where there is no yellow fever.  I have traveled to several countries and have never once been asked for a vaccine record.  If a vaccine was "required" for travel and I didn't want to get it, I just wouldn't get it.  There is almost no chance you would be asked about it anyway in my experience.

[Healthy Skeptic]

That is great and helpful information.  I really appreciate your time and effort.  And I agree 100%.  Thanks again.

[slmommy]

I am living in Brazil. My pedi told me recently that our city of millions has not had a case of measles in 11 years. There are some outbreaks of somethings in some areas of the country, sometimes, just like US. My DD has been partially vaxed. There are no required vaccines for travel here. The biggest disease problem here has no vaccine - Denegue.

[bmorehon]

The list of yellow fever vax requirements is here: http://www.who.int/ith/chapters/ith2012en_countrylist.pdf

The countries that require it will check your YF vaccine certificate (a yellow card) at immigration.

[Mama Monez]

I have travelled to the Middle East and Eastern African with my DD who is now 6.  On the time of our last trip to Africa she was not yet 2.  We were staying a few months in Uganda, both in the capital in various villages to visit family.

Because we did not tax, I simply sent a notarized letter to the Ugandan embassy where I had applied for my visa, asking to waive the "requirement" for yellow fever because we did not tax for "religious reasons."  In New York State, this is the only accepted exemption, so I just went with the same one I use for my daughters NYC public school.  There was absolutely no issue, and they sent back our passports approved with visa.  I was never asked for proof of vax at any point.  It was easier to get this exemption than is was for my DD public school:)

Hope that helps!