AllAboutThatBass

Appologies if this has already been asked but ....

Taking our 4 year old to Illinos in a couple of months and wanted to give our son the Chickenpox vacination before we left but apparently there's a national shortage of the vacinne here.

Has anyone taken their kid over and got the vacine over there? Just wondered if it was a hassle or if it held things up massively.

Thanks

petitefrancaise

Well, if you are putting your son in a kindergarten/preschool then it is a required vaccine.

http://www.dph.illinois.gov/sites/de...try-040716.pdf

He will need 2 doses within 28 days.

It's not a problem getting vaccines administered here, you can go to Walgreens etc and some supermarkets with pharmacies will do it on the spot.
If you have proof of health insurance then vaccinations are covered at low/no cost in most places. Otherwise you pay at the counter and send it in for a refund to your insurers. I'm talking about your regular US health insurance, not travel insurance.

Pete_Maz

Watching with interest.. Apologies, I don't mean to hijack your thread, but my i-130 was recently approved and I'm trying to get my vaccination records in order. I have had Chicken Pox when I was younger (I'm in my 40's!) but obviously have no way to prove it! I also heard there's a European wide shortage of the vaccine, so was wondering if anyone had a titre test for this sort of thing as part of their medical?

petitefrancaise

Yes. I didn't have access to my medical records either and I needed to prove vaccines for my green card medical. My choice was to either get the vaccines redone or get a titre test. Since I had to prove the whole flipping lot, I got a titre test.

AllAboutThatBass

Thats a relief I'll just pop in to Walgreens then, thankfully we'll have our insurance sorted when we arrive. Didn't know it was that simple. I just didn't want to have to wait too long before he could start Kindergarten.

petitefrancaise

He should be able to start as soon as he's had the first dose.

Don't forget to ask your doctor's surgery for a full list of vaccinations that you've all had, on headed note-paper.

Pete_Maz

Thanks petitefrancaise! I'll contact my surgery in the morning to see if they can the test.

Moo52

Hi moved over with our 6 and 11 yr old last August, I had already researched vaccinations need for CT schools- they had both contracted chicken pox so just got a letter from GP, but we did need to start Hep B vaccinations in the UK and boosters for some routine UK vaccinations were needed in the US. In CT they are very strict and will not allow children to start school until full medical in place, but our US pediatrician that I had researched and booked appointments before we left the UK were great and made sure the kids had boosters before school started. My advice- contact the US school and get a list of medical/vaccination needed, book appointment with US Pediatrician especially if short time between moving and school starting. If you have a good UK practice nurse/Boots pharmacist they may be able to help advise.
Good luck x

Twinkle0927

For spousal visas, since you won't be adjusting status in the USA and won't need to provide vaccine records here (they are used purely by the embassy for us), simply telling the Knightsbridge doctor that you had chicken pox when you were x years old is sufficient as the varicella vaccine is not routinely given in the U.K. and the London embassy is well aware of this predicament.

For spouse visas you need MMR, Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis) and flu vaccine if emigrating during flu season. I didn't grow up in the U.K. and my childhood medical records are presumably still in the country where I grew up. The GP gave me 2 MMR boosters, a flu vaccine and Tdap at no charge. Medical passed and visa issued. Tomorrow is my 4-month anniversary here in the country.

zzrmark

When I had my medical (Autumn 2015) I just told the doc that I'd had Chicken Pox as a kid. If he wanted to know when then he'd have had to make do with 'sometime after my 7th birthday and sometime before my 13th', but he didn't ask...

Beaverstate

Look out for Shingles... I had them and was very very lucky it was a minor case caught early, or a case caught early which became minor.
What is shingles...It is something that a person who had chicken pox as a child can catch later on in life...so much worse than chicken pox.

zzrmark

I suffer from damage by shingles quite often during the summer season, those blasted things can blister my bare knees on hot Florida days...

Beaverstate

Have you tried the Shingles vaccination? A two or three hundred dollar expense well worth it if you ever expect another bout.

Beaverstate

HaHa though they can affect any part of the bodies skin surface, even the knees.

DebzinUS

Yep, got me in my left eye, ear. and scalp. Ironically, i had requested the Shingles vaccination about a month prior. My insurance wouldn't cough up because I wasn't the recommended age for vaccination (the CDC says 60). I ended up in hospital with IV Acyclovir for 7 days, weeks of pain, impaired vision and a nice fat bill that the insurance company could have avoided.