This travel doctor visit has been a long time coming—and definitely not something we were excited about. We booked the appointment about six months ago, knowing that preparing for a full year of wandering the world was going to a be a lot; a lot to organize, track, pay for, and a lot of shots and prescriptions.
We walked out with sore arms, a 55‑page PDF outlining immunization recommendations for every stop on our route, a pharmacy’s worth of prescriptions, and a promise to return with the girls to finish the rest of our shots and start theirs off.
When we planned our route, we didn’t factor in immunizations at all. We chose places we wanted to see, that felt reasonably safe with kids, and that made geographical sense. Honestly, that alone was enough to juggle. I’m not sure we would’ve changed our strategy, but it became very clear during the consultation that we didn’t exactly make things easy for ourselves. In particular, our big hitters was Kenya, requiring yellow fever and malaria pills and Thailand requiring Japanese Encephalitis, Typhoid, and Hepatitis A.
And then there was the Philippines. This is the malaria map for the country. Want to guess where we booked our entire two‑week stay? Yep… that completely red island in the southwest. Of course we did. Which means we picked one of the only places in the country that has a high risk of malaria.
The Vaccine Lineup
Here’s the full roster of what the doctor recommended:
- Yellow fever — 1 shot
- Tetanus — 1 shot
- Rabies — 2 shots
- Typhoid — 1 shot
- Hepatitis A — 2 shots
- Japanese encephalitis — 2 shots
Some of us already had a few from past trips, which helped… a little. But once we tallied everything up, the final shot count looked like this:
- Sam: 6 shots
- Justin: 6 shots
- Emmalyn: 6 shots
- Isabel: 8 shots — the undisputed champion of “most needles required”
She is not going to be thrilled.
The Medications
Vaccines weren’t the only thing on the list. We also walked away with prescriptions for:
- Traveler’s diarrhea meds (because… reality)
- Malaria pills for Kenya and the Philippines
If you’ve ever wondered what it costs to prepare a family of four for global travel, here’s a taste:
- Travel doctor consultation: $125 per person
- Yellow fever vaccine: $185 per person
- Japanese encephalitis vaccine: $500 per person
- Rabies vaccine: $500 per person
- Typhoid vaccine: $50 per person
- Malaria pills: $250 per person
I’ll save you the math, that’s $6500 for our family of 4. We’re lucky to be in Canada with a solid drug plan through work. I’ll update this post once we find out what’s covered and what we’ll be paying out of pocket because I for one am very curious to find out.
Despite the needles and the sticker shock, it’s reassuring to know we’re as protected as possible—and that many of these vaccines last a lifetime. Maybe our next big adventure will involve a few less needles.
UPDATE: Well we got the information back from the insurance company! The only things they didn’t cover was the travel doctor consultation ($125 per person) and they only covered 50% of the Japanese encephalitis (which leaves us paying $250 per person). So in total, we paid $1500 CDN. Next week we all go back and get our shots… I’ll report out on how that goes 😬