International Travel: Don't Forget Your Child's Vaccinations

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Final up to date on June 17, 2024.

By Ernie Mundell HealthDay Reporter

SUNDAY, June 16, 2024 — Exploring Europe, taking an African safari, occurring a visit to the tropics: In lots of circumstances, vaccines are wanted for journey, and that is doubly true for kids.

In response to pediatrician Dr. Lauren Nguyen, researching what vaccines are wanted and making ready nicely earlier than your loved ones’s departure is essential.

“I inform my households that it’s greatest to return in about six weeks previous to worldwide journey,” stated Nguyen, who’s primarily based in Torrance, Calif. and is affiliated with the Kids’s Hospital Los Angeles Care Community.

Meet along with your kid’s pediatrician to assessment journey plans, determine what vaccines are required or advisable primarily based in your journey vacation spot and prepare to get any photographs wanted. That session might be greatest completed with an in-person go to, not a cellphone name, Nguyen famous.

Undecided what photographs the nation you are visiting requires? Head to the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention’s Vacationers’ Well being web site for updated information for international locations worldwide.

“The CDC web site tells you about any present outbreaks, in addition to the advisable vaccines for that nation,” Nguyen stated in a hospital information launch.

In addition to any particular vaccines required by the nation you are visiting, make certain your little one is updated on routine photographs for seasonal infections like COVID, flu and RSV.

Planning forward is essential as a result of many vaccines require a number of doses given weeks aside, Nguyen famous. Pediatricians might also not have giant provides of vaccines for illnesses like yellow fever or typhoid, and might have time to get them organized.

Then there’s time wanted for vaccines to provide your kid’s immune system a full increase. “It takes about two to 4 weeks to answer the vaccine and develop the antibodies,” Nguyen defined.

And it is not nearly needles: Each day dose malaria drugs, for instance, should be began as much as two weeks earlier than departure, taken the complete interval that you simply’re in a malaria zone, after which taken for a month after you come residence.

Vaccine schedules additionally range by age, Ngyuen famous. Measles outbreaks are occuring worldwide with better frequency, and measles vaccine suggestions are completely different for infants versus older kids.

Kids usually wait to get the primary dose of the measles vaccine between the ages of 12 and 15 months and the second dose between 4 and 6 years of age.

Nonetheless, for infants “that adjustments for worldwide journey,” Nguyen stated. “Kids between 6 and 12 months of age ought to get a primary dose of the measles vaccine previous to journey.” That first dose ought to nonetheless be adopted up by a second dose between the ages of 4 and 6, she added.

Hepatitis A is often contracted by means of contaminated water or meals. Once more, routine vaccination suggestions recommend {that a} little one get their first hep A shot between 12 and 23 months of age.

Nonetheless, “infants 6 to 11 months outdated needs to be vaccinated when safety in opposition to hepatitis A is advisable for the vacation spot,” Nguyen stated. And in case your child could be very younger — below 2 months of age — you most likely should not journey internationally except it’s completely crucial, she added.

One other key shot is the meningitis A (MenACWY) vaccine. It is simply transmitted and Nguyen suggests that youngsters be vaccinated in opposition to meningitis A earlier than journey, particularly when individuals are circulating in shut quarters, reminiscent of on cruise ships.

Children ages 16 and older also needs to be immunized in opposition to the meningitis B vaccine.

Cruise ships will be hotbeds of an infection, so remember vaccinations even when you aren’t docking at unique locales.

“The individuals you’ll be on the ship with might need been vacationing everywhere in the world,” she defined. “Vaccines can shield your kids from a variety of diseases these passengers would possibly deliver on board.”

In addition to photographs and drugs, you possibly can take different steps to maintain you and your loved ones secure whereas overseas. In response to Nguyen, these embrace bringing:

Insect repellent

Kids’s acetaminophen, ibuprofen and Benadryl

Hydrocortisone cream

Electrolyte-replacement powder (like Pedialyte), to assist curb dehydration

Sunscreen

Your medical insurance card

Final however not least, ensure you have sufficient journey medical insurance so you possibly can entry care ought to any well being emergencies come up.

SOURCE: Kids’s Hospital Los Angeles Care Community, information launch, June 13, 2024

Disclaimer: Statistical knowledge in medical articles present basic developments and don’t pertain to people. Particular person elements can range significantly. At all times search customized medical recommendation for particular person healthcare choices.

Posted June 2024