Travel Vaccinations

Depending on where your short term missions trip takes you it may be necessary to get some additional vaccinations. I recommend going to the CDC Travelers’ Health site and looking up the country you plan to visit. Give yourself as much time as possible. When I went to the Central African Republic I opted to get vaccinated for Hepatitis A and B. This is a series of three shots. The second course is scheduled a month after the first and the third course is scheduled six months after the first shot. I categorize vaccinations in three categories.   

Required – You must have all required vaccinations before you’re permitted in the destination country. In my case I was required to have the Yellow Fever vaccination. The travel clinic will give you a small yellow card with documentation to put with your passport.

Recommended – As the name indicates these are vaccinations the CDC recommends but are not required. I chose to get all recommended vaccinations. In most cases insurance will not cover travel vaccinations. You may be tempted to skip on these to save money. I highly encourage you to think twice about skipping on these. It was rough coming up with the over $600 I spent on vaccinations. However one day on my visit, after a heavy rainfall, I fell up to my waist in a ditch on the side of the road. The streets in Bangui are not clean. After watching all the litter, debris, and who knows what floating past me I was VERY happy I decided to spend the extra money.

Routine – The good news is that there’s a very good chance insurance will cover these and they can be administered by your regular physician. Routine vaccinations are the MMR and the DPT vaccines. The DPT is the important one. If you do suffer an injury while abroad it’s better to get the vaccination here rather than there.