Immunizations for Adoptive Parents Traveling to Vietnam
By Allison Martin & Wendy Barron
Overview of immunization recommendations for adoption travel to Vietnam.
Several months before you travel, review immunizations requirements with your personal doctor or a medical travel clinic. In most cases you can follow the general immunization guidelines for travelers to Vietnam, one exception being that adoptive parents and their children are at higher risk for Hepatitis B.
This list is based on personal recommendations from several doctors and experiences of adoptive parents.
| MMR | Measles, mumps, rubella. Update vaccines. |
| DPT | Tetanus, diphtheria. Update vaccines. |
| Polio | Update. |
| Typhoid | Update. |
| Hepatitis A | Generally recommended. |
| Hepatitis B | Hepatitis B immunization is recommended for adoptive parents by doctors who specialize in international adoption medicine. (For more information see Hepatitis B and Adoption from Asia on Comeunity.) |
| Malaria | Mefloquine (Lariam) is the most common medication taken by adoptive parents traveling to Vietnam. Some people do experience side effects. Read more about Malaria. |
| Other | It is generally not recommended to get Cholera, Japanese Encephalitis, Yellow Fever, Rabies (except for extended visits), or Meningitis immunizations. There has been one report of Meningitis infection and one report of Dengue fever from parents on the Adoptive Parents of Vietnam list following trips to Vietnam. |
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