Sharing is caring!

Family travel vaccinations

I get asked quite a lot about travel vaccinations for children.  What we do about them? What travel vaccinations do they have? How do they feel when they’ve had them and where do we get the travel vaccinations done?

This post is all about highlighting a travel vaccinations service that I wasn’t aware of that is provided by Superdrug Health Clinics. NB: I have worked with the Superdrug Health Clinics and their Travel Services programme for this sponsored post.

Superdrug’s travel vaccination service offers a range of travel vaccinations and malaria tablets and advice – see full list superdrug travel vaccination service You can book your appointment online here and also get tailored travel advice regarding exactly what you need before you go away from a team of in-store nurses.

Most regular readers will know that we spent two weeks in Rwanda in 2017 and two weeks in Malawi in 2018 so we have spent a lot of time considering travel vaccinations for children and ourselves. The obvious place to go and have your travel vaccinations is of course your local GP surgery but did you know that you could actually have your travel vaccinations done elsewhere, and they may well be cheaper, and it might be more efficient.

Travel vaccinations are sometimes required when you travel to locations outside Europe where you might need to protect yourself and your children from infections that are more prevalent there, and that don’t exist in the UK.  We’ve never let the risk of disease put us off travelling with our children as we are of the view that provided you get the right vaccinations you should be able to travel to some exciting places across the world.

When we travelled to Rwanda in 2017 we needed to have Yellow Fever; Hepatitis A; Tetanus, Cholera; Diphtheria; Hepatitis B; Meningococcal Meningitis; and Typhoid vaccinations. We discussed Rabies injections with the healthcare professional and decided that it wasn’t necessary for what we were doing but everyone must take their own advice on this.

When we travelled to Malawi, we had had a lot of the travel vaccinations the year before and so we only needed a few boosters.

What we needed for both countries though was malaria tablets as well to prevent us all getting malaria if bitten by pesky mosquitos.  The GP surgery would give us advice on whether we needed malaria tablets but then would charge a prescription charge of £20 per person to write the unnecessary prescription.  For a family of 5 that is a significant cost on top of paying for the tablets themselves.

Which travel vaccinations you might need depends on where you’re going and the time of the year of your trip. During your free consultation with Superdrug’s Travel vaccination service, the nurse or pharmacist will check which travel vaccinations or medicines you might need – this will depend on where you’re going, which activities you have planned and your medical history.

Superdrug Health Clinics now offer 13 different types of travel vaccinations within its travel vaccinations service including:

• Yellow Fever
• Cholera
• Hepatitis A
• Hepatitis A and Typhoid
• Hepatitis A and B
• Hepatitis B
• Japanese Encephalitis
• Meningitis ACWY
• Polio, Diphtheria & Tetanus
• Rabies
• Typhoid
• Tick-borne Encephalitis
• Measles, Mumps, and Rubella

Superdrug Health Clinics can also prescribe Malaria tablets for all the family too. There is still a misconception that only doctors can prescribe malaria for children but the law on this changed in 2017. So Superdrug’s Travel vaccination service can also prescribe Malaria tablets such as:

• Doxycycline
• Malarone
• Chloroquine

Outbreaks of measles are appearing among some of the most popular destinations for UK travellers, the vaccination is now advised for travel to the majority of Asia, Africa, India and South America. Additionally, Public Health England has recently advised that any young adults and teens travelling Europe this summer are vaccinated against measles if they haven’t previously been vaccinated. Superdrug has most recently launched an MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) vaccination service in all of its Health Clinics across the country.

I feel obliged to point out that you should do your own research on the associated costs of all the Travel Vaccinations available as different areas of the country and different GP surgeries also charge different amounts. We were also offered some of the more common injections we needed from our GP at no cost. The more specific ones like Yellow Fever for example will always attract an additional fee.

 

Discover more travel tips

For more tips and advice on travelling, why not visit my travel tips section?