Vaccine Woes

[duluxdog 0]

I have just had a reply from my local GP in Scotland after my snail mail to him some weeks ago regarding my medical history and in particular my vaccination report from way back , ie : polio , bcg etc which were administered as and when required by the health service at the time , all school age children were given these vaccines at certain times of there age. My doctor informed me that his records only go back as far as 1979 , when i was given a tetanus shot , plus 2 booster shots (works injury) thereafter in the same year. Now i have had an email from the Scottish Health Board telling me that when a person reaches 25 all medical records up to that age are destroyed , so what do i do now , i cant show physical proof of any medical history let alone vaccine reports.

Do i have to get all the vaccines ever needed here or will they take it as proof from myself that i had all these vaccines done as a child and to just get the ones required for the vaccine supplement after the full medical.

From my local doctors letter

"quote" I cannot see a date when you had your BCG , polio etc. No doubt these were done when you were a child but your previous doctor does not seem to have recorded them .

So you see the dilemma i am faced with and do i end up looking like a dartboard with all the perforations in order to satisfy the medical requirements , not forgetting the added costs !!!!!

[Autumnal 25]

This was the policy for Canada too, at least my part of it. Any inoculation records made through schools is destroyed when the student turns 23. By pure chance I managed to get a confirmation of mine before they were destroyed this year.

Unless you can convince the civil surgeon here that you've already had your vaccinations, or you have a form already -- basically some official proof -- I fear they probably won't accept just saying so. Cases where this may be otherwise are if your family kept records of inoculations (in a baby book or health record), you have pictures showing you had certain illnesses (for example: chicken pox), or such.

I really don't know how flexible or lenient the civil surgeon is going to be. You might call around and try explaining, especially if the vaccinations were mandatory in Scotland?

[kerewin21 2]

Some of those shots will be no longer age-appropriate as you are now an adult. Others you can have a blood test done to check if you're immune. Others (Tetanus) need a booster shot every 10 years anyway, so you're probably due for that one in any case.

You might get stuck a little extra and it might cost a bit more, but it won't do you any long-term harm. I agree though, see if your mom or dad kept your little vaccination booklet from when you were a kid.

[Kez/JWolf 6]

I was in the same situation as you duluxdog... I just had the shots it was cheeper than having the test to see if I had already had them... only thing I had to pay was $15 for 6 shots, $150 for medical and $56 for a chest x-ray I had to have because I showed a positive result to the skin test, this was caused because I had BCG done as a child...

Hope you get it sorted duluxdog

Kezzie

[Fetaria 0]

There is a blood test that can be done called a Titre that checks for the anitbodies in your blood against these diseases. I listed the vaccinations I needed to prove I had, they checked for the anitibodies and was given a nice neat sheet with a list of my immunizations.

[j&js 0]

I was in the same situation as you duluxdog... I just had the shots it was cheeper than having the test to see if I had already had them... only thing I had to pay was $15 for 6 shots, $150 for medical and $56 for a chest x-ray I had to have because I showed a positive result to the skin test, this was caused because I had BCG done as a child...

Hope you get it sorted duluxdog

Kezzie

Wow, Kezzie, you got a much better rate then us on the shots and blood tests. The doctor told James he could either get the test or wait for a chicken pox vaccine to come in, but that the test was the cheaper way to go... Ended up costing $180 for a chicken pox test, 1 shot and having the form filled out.

What doctor did you go to Kezzie?

[Kez/JWolf 6]

I had all the shots done at the local health center and then took the worksheet back to the civil surgeon and she completed the forms...

Kezzie

[damulag 26]

We went to the local health dept also, $30 for the TD, second varicella, second mmr. I was prepared to pay the $160 listed but without asking they marked financial hardship and charged $30

[Kajikit 65]

Polio etc are not age-appropriate vaccines for an adult so you don't need to worry about them or proving you had them. In most countries there isn't any record of these early vaccines unless your parents were fanatical about keeping a baby book for you! I know I didn't have any records but because I was in Australia and vaccinations were routine, the doctor just assumed that I'd had them at the appropriate time. The only ones they're looking for are tetanus, the MMR, and varicella.

[iansusie 0]

Well, I had chicken pox when I was 19 but no way to prove it and they wanted to charge me $150 for blood test (just to check for chicken pox, not MMR or tetanus which I only had the rubella shot so was going to need them anyway, my TB came back fine which I knew it would) or $75 for the varicella vaccine, and $75 between MMR and Tetanus vaccines, so you can guess what I did. It sucks though cause I really didn't need it. So I ended up paying $130 for the medical and $150 for the 3 vaccines because I didn't have a vaccination record from home. (I did not enter on a K-1 visa)

[ktun 0]

My advice would be to call around different Civil Surgeons and ask them the costs of the vaccines and the costs of Titres to check immunity. The civil surgeon I went to only charged $25 each titre(I had 3 titres run) and it saved us alot of money as they were going to charge $75 for the Varicella vaccine $50 for the MMR and $50 for something else, on top of the medical fee. Even if you find out that you have to have any vaccines like the MMR, again ask around for prices, before my medical most doctors were quoting $50-75 for the MMR, but I then contacted the local health department and they'll do it for $5!!

All in all we paid $250 for the medical including Td vaccine, TB Skin Test, all the titres and of course the HIV and Syphilis tests.

Hope you dont have to have too many shots.

[duluxdog 0]

Many thanks for the input guys , i have had more information from VJers than from the medical fraternity in the UK. When it comes to getting personal information about yourself the UK fails miserably and way behind the states . Perhaps they could take some lessons from here !!!!!!.

Armed with this new information , i will enquire at the local health centre on what vaccinations i will need

to satisfy the supplement for the medical.

So it looks like i wont be resembling a dart-board after all.lol

Edited March 13, 2006 by duluxdog