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Hi all,

We have a five month old child who will need continuing vaccinations. I presume they are readily available. Also are there compulsory vaccinations? Many thanks.

Everything you need is here, can be expensive though.

Pretty much everything your child would have got anyway in a 1st world country is needed - tetanus, whooping cough, meningitis and polio off the top of my head. Think they also need to get Hepititis B or C (don't know the difference!) here, particulalrly if you're using nursery/ school.

Marlo,

I don't know where you are from, but try to follow your country's own vaccination guide. But you might have to take a few extra ones. We are from the UK and I had to take a few more for my 2 year-old son, like TB and chicken pox.

Only a few insurance companies cover vaccinations. Someone told me at a hospital that only Bupa did (I am not sure if that's true) but it doesn't surprise me, as most fo these stupid health insurance companies adoes not offer pre-emptive covers (meaning, they only cover you IF and oONLY WHEN you are ill, but nothing to help prevent any kind of illness, madness!) In other words, reactive rather than proactive.

BUt be careful, some doctors will try to make you take a million (mostly)unnecessary jabs. We were quite shocked to see that one stupid pediatritian would give us a list and leaflets of no less than 10 optional vaccines. I can imagine she gets some kind of commission or a free trip somewhere out of them! Luckily, I found a nice doctor and she suggested only a few. So you'll have to follow your gutt feeling about it and trust your doctor on it. But be careful with all the cowboy doctors you'll come across in Dubai!

Thanks Julieta. Comments about insurance companies and jab happy doctors seem a worldwide complaint.

Are vaccinations compulsory though and if so do you know which ones? Thanks.

I had my daughter vaccinned at Belhoul European hospital when I brought her to Dubai when she was 8 months old (now she's almost 3 yo). She had few vaccines earlier according to the plan we had when she was born in Indonesia. For first year, there are quite many in fact.

Unfortunately vaccine is not covered in our insurance policy from the employer, so I had to pay a fortune (like 10x more expensive than in Indonesia). But we don't have a choice, do we?

Some vaccines still left. That Hepatitis thing scot1870 says scares me as my daughter has been going to nursery school for almost one year. Will check again the records.

One vaccine which we still haven't taken is MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella). There are still pro and contra about this (causing autism).

MMR doesn't cause autism. The team that announced it to the world and caused such as stir then had to retract it (which the media roundly failed to report) after they found their research was flawed.

Depending on the school/ nursery, they will insist on certain vaccines before entry but I don't think there are any rules about entering the country per se.

I suspect Hepititis is more a hangover from the pre-development days, I believe it exists in some remoter/ unclean parts of the UAE but you should be fine in Dubai city. We got it done for my daughter just in case, neither me nor my wife were vaccinated against it.

Thanks all...very hepful

I don't think nurseries demand children to have had certain jabs, at least not the ones I visited (that was one of my questions, and I would have much prefered they did). I am not sure if that's the case for primary schools, I know for certain that all applications do include a medical history that includes all vaccinations. As my child has them all, I really don't know what happens if they don't have them, no idea if it's compulsory by law.

I also had extra hepatitis b for my kids. And my son already had the MMR back in the UK. Regarding the controversy, it was a issue thing over there, you just have to make your own point of view. Me personally, I think that it's worst risking your children's health by not having jabs and I believe after my personal research that the link between autism and the MMR jabs was just a matter of coincidence, as the age of the first jab (around 13-15 months) is the same time that the first signs of autism occur. That's my lay person opinion, I am not claiming t be an expert. But my son had it and he's fine, so no complaints about it. BUt again, they are your children and you should decide what's in their best interest.

Julieta wrote:Marlo,

I don't know where you are from, but try to follow your country's own vaccination guide. But you might have to take a few extra ones. We are from the UK and I had to take a few more for my 2 year-old son, like TB and chicken pox.

Only a few insurance companies cover vaccinations. Someone told me at a hospital that only Bupa did (I am not sure if that's true) but it doesn't surprise me, as most fo these stupid health insurance companies adoes not offer pre-emptive covers (meaning, they only cover you IF and oONLY WHEN you are ill, but nothing to help prevent any kind of illness, madness!) In other words, reactive rather than proactive.

BUt be careful, some doctors will try to make you take a million (mostly)unnecessary jabs. We were quite shocked to see that one stupid pediatritian would give us a list and leaflets of no less than 10 optional vaccines. I can imagine she gets some kind of commission or a free trip somewhere out of them! Luckily, I found a nice doctor and she suggested only a few. So you'll have to follow your gutt feeling about it and trust your doctor on it. But be careful with all the cowboy doctors you'll come across in Dubai!

Some interesting comments Julietta, is this based on fact or just something you heard???

Sage

It is based in my personal experience, which for me of course is based on facts (it happened to me) but also on my friend's experiences too. So it could be a liitle bit of both facts and things I've heard.

I was told by the cashier at Welcare Hospital that Bupa was the only insurance who covered vaccines...is that accurate? I don't know for certain, but I suppose that she knows what she is talking about.

Regarding the reactive mentality of insurances, it seems to be the case with the ones I have had (Bupa and now Goodhealth), Bupa maybe a little bit less (they do cover vaccines and some preemptive tets like smear tests) But I have read all the policies and their stupid exceptions, and that's the impression that I've got. I couldn't go as far as to confirm that all insurances are like that (maybe we have been unlucky with our policies), as this is by no means my area of expertise, but for the best of my knowledge and experience, that's my opinion.

I'm with Axa and they don't cover vaccines, not even the cost of the doctor consultation for that.