Unfortunately there's not a whole lot to report, other than little tidbits of information. I really thought that I'd be knee deep in research when moving to a new country, but you'd be surprised how little I actually have to do at this very moment. I mean my leave date isn't until August so realistically nothing should be happening in May, and I've got a pretty great Recruiting Agency that I'm depending on. Also, I've joined a number of Facebook groups that focus on Korea and getting an idea of how cool the people are over there, so all is going well.
I did recently have my annual physical (good to keep on top of these things you know), and had them throw in a tetanus shot for good measure. I think the statute of limitations on those is about 10 years, and I haven't had one since I did cheerleading freshman year of high school. Anyway, after a clean bill of health, and a sore left shoulder I was curious if I'd have to endure being a human pincushion in the future. Fortunately, Ask Now (my recruiting agency) told me that there are no requirements for immunizations, and I do not have to get any shots if I choose not to. (And I definitely choose not to).
With that being said, I'm sure my mother (who works in medicine as a profession, and reminded me of this today when I called to wish her a Happy Mother's Day) will not agree with my choice to take a risk and see if I wind up getting anything abroad, and I did some more digging around. According to MDtravelhealth.com South Korea RECOMMENDS that you be vaccinated for Hepatitis A & B, Typhoid, Rabies, Measles Mumps & Rubella (MMR), Tetanus, & Japanese Encephalitis. Do I think its a good idea not to get Typhoid? Sure. Am I too lazy to get these shots? Your guess is as good as mine, I guess we'll see in time how convincing my mother can be after she reads this.
I do plan on visiting various countries though, and I figured I'd see if there was anything anywhere that had pressing "YOU MUST GET THIS SHOT TO SURVIVE" requirements. After checking Hong Kong/China, Japan, Australia, India, & Taiwan they all recommend the same things. The only difference being Yellow Fever and Malaria in India (but I doubt I'll get there anyway). Even the CDC echoes MDTravelhealth.com so I think everything will work out. Either way with my luck, I'd get all the shots and still wind up getting SARS or the now more trendy Bird Flu.
2 comments:
Getting stabbed repeatedly in the arm is part of the experience though! You definitely don't want to miss out... especially on the pain in the days after...
And duh, of course you wouldn't want to go to India... we all know who came from there and how HE turned out...
I'd say get all the vaccinations you can...you don't want to get sick in a country where the majority of the people don't speak English. For our 2-week China tour we had to get the malaria shot and a few other ones as well. And you know what? We can't risk you getting SARS.
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