david999

Hey all,

I'll be heading out to Khobar in a months time to start work.
Just wondering what everyone has done for vaccinations for the region?
I've checked online and seems about 8 is needed, including Rabies and Hep B and they come at about £50 a pop in the UK, about £600 all in!!!
Are they all really necessary, or am I being a bit paranoid?
Is it better to get them done when I arrive?


Regards
David

dragonladyoz

We didn't have the rabies ones - only gave those to our kids who are more likely to try and pat an infected animal. Did make sure we had all normal ones (Measles, tetanus, polio etc) up to date and Hep B. Think Meningococcal is required for entry so no choice there. Also had Yellow Fever, but that was because of the travel we intended to do and figured while we were having them we might as well have one more!

Saudi can be a bit backwards - we had blood taken the old fashioned way (drawing it out via syringe) during our medicals - so don't know that I would want to line up for vaccinations!

scot47

When travelling to KSA I was never REQUIRED to have any injections. I recollect that Yellow Fever was required if you were travelling from certain countries.

You may want to have some injections but they are, I think, voluntary.

As for taking blood samples, I must be living in the past. How can you take a blood sample without using a syringe ?

mentalist

Not a single injection when I first went to KSA back in 1998 and none thereafter. What diseases are you expecting to catch?

Beakersful

Go to your NHS travel nurses. I didn't have the money for the exotic jabs preparing to come over but took all the free ones. There was no documentation need with the KSA government to prove/disprove you've had them.

Basically I was warned by the NHS nurses about rabies ("don't go near animals!") malaria in the damper areas ("take pills properly") and Denque Fever (someone in Jeddah recently wrote up their experiences, with the husband contracting it and difficulty in diagnosis by local medical centres, on another board)

Any country where there is poverty and an influx of illiterate workers from developing countries is bound to have higher incidence rates of disease. Just look at what certain UN troops brought to Haiti in the relief operation........(and I'm not referring to all the young local women walking round up the duff)

asher

it is better to have them done 8 weeks before you travel so that they are effective when you arrive if you are going to have them done.

£600 sounds a lot until you compare how much a few months off work sick will cost you its all a gamble you may never get any of them.

unlimited

I work in Saudi and Dubai with weekend trips in Bahrain etc and I never had any injections!

nonthaburi

go to your local GP and get all the free ones before you travel . They might tell you to get rabies jabs but they're quite expensive . IME you would be better off getting a rabies jab after being bitten in country as it will probably be loads cheaper . Presuming you will be near a hospital that is....

david999

Thanks all,

A real mixed bag of feedback.
I think I'll go for the freebies from my GP and take it from there......a lot of them should be done 3 months before traveling any way, so a bit late for that!!!


Regards
David

dragonladyoz

@scot47 - at home blood is taken usually using a canular type device that is inserted in vein and where the blood collection vials are attached/detached one after the other and blood fills the vials via its normal flow rate.....

In Saudi they took a huge syringe and collected the blood by drawing back on the plunger part of the syringe literally "drawing blood" and then removing that and inserting a second syringe and drawing back again....... much more painful!

Meningcoccal was required for our entry as we were going to Jeddah and they like all new entries to have it, just like those who are doing Hajj or Umrah - may not be needed for other parts of KSA.

jam25mack

Never had any jabs to come to the ME and don't know anyone who has.

If you are that bothered tho, come over and then take a trip to Thailand where they are much much cheaper and you get a holiday out of it.

scot47

I will repeat that in my 17 years in KSA was never required toi take any vaccinations.

nonthaburi

Just because they aren't required doesn't mean that it's a bad idea to have them though . Going to border areas in Burma they don't require you to have any anti-malarial drugs , you would be crazy not to though .

jam25mack

Just drink G&T's and its covered!

nonthaburi

reminds me of what the locals used to say about a Scottish guy , " In the night he's too drunk to notice the mosquitoes , in the morning the mosquitoes are too drunk too notice him . "