A Primer on Vaccinations

Vaccinations are for little kids, right? And we always tell them to be brave and that it won't hurt much.

As it turns out, when one travels to the developing world, vaccinations are for everybody - lots of vaccinations.

Last Tuesday, I had a plan.

Step 1: Report for vaccinations at 9:30 a .m.

Step 2: Finish vaccinations by 10:00 a.m.

Step 3:  Report for the train at 10:15 a.m. and be off to work.

It didn't quite work this way.

Before the travel clinic would produce those coveted Yellow Fever, Typhoid and Meningitis vaccinations, I had to participate in a little education.  Well, a LOT of education.  I was forced to view multiple maps of the range of multiple diseases, like this one:

Then I listened with despair at the cautions and warnings regarding fruits and vegetables sold along the roadside, and completed and 8-page questionnaire.  And as a bonus, I was the first patient in the clinic's new "Electronic Medical Record" program.  It wasn't the most user-friendly program evidently.

Two hours later, I was released from the clinic with my vaccination certificate and prescriptions for an anti-malaria drug and an antibiotic.

I'm now ready to face any and all communicable diseases.

Three shots. Two hours. One step closer to Ghana.