Vaccines for traveling with children

Before embarking on a trip or a vacation with children, we must ensure that our children are well protected. In addition to taking the safety measures necessary for children to be safe, we also have to take care of their health and the dreaded vaccines. Of course, no child likes vaccines , but they

Before embarking on a trip or a vacation with children, we must ensure that our children are well protected. In addition to taking the safety measures necessary for children to be safe, we also have to take care of their health and the dreaded vaccines.

Of course, no child likes vaccines, but they are necessary to avoid perfectly preventable diseases. In addition, depending on the destination of the trip, children will need vaccines or others. First of all, we must make sure that we have skipped any vaccine from the childhood immunization schedule.

When to vaccinate children

Many parents believe that they should only worry about vaccines if they travel to distant or exotic countries. Nothing of that. In order not to endanger the health of ours and that of other children, it is necessary to bring the vaccination card up to date. This is important even if we travel within our own country because with travel, contact with other people intensifies.

For trips abroad, it is best to consult with the pediatrician about the necessary vaccinations for the destination, although in some cases it will be necessary to go to an international vaccination center. The measures are extreme if we travel to tropical countries, to some places in Africa or even to Southeast Asia.

What to vaccinate children when we go on a trip

In general, the most common vaccines are those of Hepatitis A, typhoid fever, meningitis, rabies, tetanus and influenza. These are vaccines that are administered before traveling to any part of the world, but will depend on the age of the children or, in the case of the flu vaccine, if the child belongs to one of the risk groups.

Less frequent are the vaccines that are advised in case of traveling to developing countries such as polio, cholera or yellow fever. Special attention requires the prevention of malaria, especially if we travel to tropical countries. In this case it is not a vaccine, but a medicine that there is to take a few days before the trip.

In any case, it is very important to prepare the trip with the children in advance, since some of these vaccines require several doses and must be given weeks or months before traveling. Vaccination is not something we can leave for the last minute because we are talking about the health of our children. But it's that improvisation has no place when we travel with children.

Laura Vélez. Editor of Guiainfantil.com