The Adventure Company recommends the following:
- Hepatitis A
- Polio
- Typhoid
- Malaria
- Tetanus
- Diphtheria
In addition, Lonely Planet recommends:
- Hepatitis B
- Influenza
- Japanese B Encephalitis
- Meningococcal Meningitis
- Rabies
- Tuberculosis
- Yellow Fever
I went to a UK travel clinic called Nomad who gave (or are currently giving) me the following:
- Hepatitis A
- Hepatitis B
- Rabies
- Typhoid
- Tetanus
- Diptheria
- Polio
Which leaves me without Malaria, Yellow Fever and Jap. B Enceph.
I was told I won’t need to worry about the Japanese B. Encephalitis as you catch this when a mosquito has fed on an infected baby pig, then bites you - you only need the vaccination if you’re going to be frequenting pig farms.
… as for the others, it’s unlikely that I’ll be bitten too much by mosquitoes (not to mention I can take my own precautions) as I’ll be traveling during the Nepalese winter. It’ll be around 0°C. TB, meningitis and ‘flu I think I’ve already been vaccinated against as a child.
You can get some of these free on the NHS, but as I’ve not taken the time to register with a doctor in London (and my own is way up north, in Yorkshire), I won’t have time, which means I have to pay for it. These can get really expensive - my course of 9 injections is over four weeks will total up to about £350 mostly as a few of these vaccines have to be taken as a course of several injections.
Having to take three shots in one go is not much fun, especially if you have to do it three times. While it’s not painful, my arms felt sore and ached for the next day or so. No exercising (climbing, in my case).
Update: Got my final 3 shots today. Feels good to have all that over and done with. Just have to take a coupla boosters over the next few years to completely immunize myself.
Details:
Hep B, rabies, typhoid - £109
Hep B, rabies, hep A - £129
Diptheria, tetanus, polio, rabies, hep B - £107.50
Total Cost: £345.50
… aaaand some more images, just for my own records:
Tetanus/Diptheria/Polio (Revaxis) - booster 10y
Hepatitis A (Avaxim) - booster 6m ~ 1y
Typhoid (Typhim Vi) - booster 3y
Hepatitis B (Engenix B) - booster 1y
Rabies (Rabies BP) - booster 3y ~ 5y
Afterthoughts:
I never fell ill while I was out there, and I don’t think I encountered any rabid animals. Definitely no mosquitoes. Still good to have been vaccinated though, for future travels.