They really have no idea!

Look at them. Watching Netflix, no care in the world. After all, we’ve been warning them for days that we were going to have to get our travel vaccinations. Last week we reached that day. I want to say that we all took it like champs.

Before I talk about all the vaccines we were inoculated with, I think all the kids deserve accolades for getting past these days.

1st place: Mateo

Category: Bravery

This was perhaps the most surprising winner of this category. After he was finished the first injection, he said “next” to my surprise. Mateo ran through the three needles, quickly, with a few tears. This is from a kid who got scared watching the new Mary Poppins movie because he “just couldn’t handle it!”

1st place: Daniela

Category: Most tears shed

Daniela started crying from the moment she saw the first needle. With the help of her rainbow stuffy, and hugging her dad, she was able to get through all three needles. Lots of tears, but she did it.

Before I give Marco his award, please note. This photo was taken about 5 minutes after his final needle. Trust me, he rivalled Daniela for the previous award.

1st place: Marco

Award: 100-yard dash

At the time of writing this, we’ve already received another vaccination. On the second go-around, Marco got so nervous that he ran away from the nurse, out of the office and down the plaza. Apparently, the first time around was pretty painful.

So taking it like Champions, all our champs got a much-deserved reward! They got to go to Dollarama and get a treat of their choice.

My champions

Now for the fun stuff – The Travel vaccinations.

To keep it short, the kids received three vaccinations each, while Charo and I received five vaccinations. Why the difference? The kids received many of these as infants, so as adults, we need boosters.

The vaccines for just Charo and I

1. MMR: Measles, Mumps and Rubella – Only Charo and I. One dose. When you’re an adult, you are supposed to get a booster for this. Especially with a few cases of measles coming into Canada, we thought it was a good idea.

 The vaccines we all received

2.Typhim – One dose. This is to battle typhoid fever.

3. Twinrix: Hepatitis A and B – Three doses – dose two is taken 28 days after the initial dose, and the third dose is 12 months later. If we follow this schedule, we will not have ever to do this again. The kids will only do two doses of this, with there second dose coming in 28 days. This will save them three injections during their grade 7 and 8 years.

4. Rabies. Three doses. The second dose is seven days after the first dose, and then the third dose is between 21 and 28 days of the initial treatment. This does not prevent someone from getting rabies. If a rabid animal bites you, it reduces the number of needles after that.

5. Japanese Encephalitis. 2 doses. The second dose is taken 28 days after the initial treatment. This is for prevention in Asia. Do a quick google search on this one, and you’ll see why it’s on our list.

Still Needed

A) Yellow fever – Unfortunately, there is currently a vaccination shortage in Canada. They’ll dispense enough vaccine that will protect you for a year. We are hoping that by June, this will change because if you get a full vaccination, it would be a dose to cover us for a lifetime.

B) Malaria pills – We do not know if we are going to go to any Malaria zones yet. We are trying to organize ourselves, so if we do, we can do those zones back to back to reduce the number of pills we will need. If we do take them, they start two days before you are in a malaria zone, continuing through the time there, and then seven days afterwards.

C) Altitude sickness pills – Once again, we are looking for anywhere we will be going above 2500 feet above sea level.

D) There is one more vaccination that we have to take, and I knew I should have written it down, but I didn’t. I’ll update this when I get that info.

Somethings you should know 

– DO NOT get all these vaccines at the same time as we did. We’ve felt junkie for the past week. Try to break them up as best as you can.

– Try to take a calendar in with you if you are getting this many needles. It’s tough to manage all the time without one. The kids’ vaccines are on a little bit of a different schedule than ours, and with our work schedules, we need a calendar to know who and what we are going for.

– Some needles hurt more than others. If your kids are doing them, I recommend breaking them up and doing one of the more substantial doses, like rabies last.

If you do plan on going on a trip, it’s worth the time and effort to protect yourself. For our trip, we visited The Travel Vaccine Clinic near Sherway Gardens. 

Thanks for reading and Happy adventuring!

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