walterj

I am not sure this is the right forum for this question, but I am preparing for travel to Southeast Asia and I need a Typhoid Fever Oral Vaccine, I am looking for a cheap clinic in Wisconsin or Chicago. I checked a few clinics in Wisconsin vaccine cost + doctor/nurse fee $260-300+, ouch!
I noticed that it is only $89 for the vaccine + $50 clinic visit fee San Francisco Dept of Health
http://www.sfcdcp.org/aitcprices.html
but that is too far away for me.

jdtravel

Many local health departments (county or city) offer foreign travel immunizations. I recommend checking with local health departments in your area.

walterj

Thanks for the suggestion- I used the local health dept to get Hepatitis A and B vaccines as well a Tdap (Tetanus, diptheria pertussis) for free. But none of them provide Typhoid Fever vaccine.

BrandonDuh

I think I was I the same situation a few years back... I ended up getting the vaccination in Bangkok when I arrived (at a very nice hospital at a very nice price). I e-mailed the hospital before departing for my trip and they were very helpful explaining everything!

jdtravel

I found select counties do offer it so I would call county health departments near you and ask. They will likely know who offers it or offer it themselves. It may take a handful of calls but hopefully it will pay off. I would ask for the travelers health clinic for vaccines.

walterj

After calling a dozen clinics, the least expensive prices for typhoid fever oral vaccine that I found in Wisconsin,
Passport Health Travel Clinic, Milwaukee, $95 vaccine, plus $65 office visit.
Medical College of Wis, Milwaukee, $86 vaccine, $65 office visit.

These seem to be reasonable prices. I assume getting it in Bangkok would be cheaper, and that is tempting, but I rather just get it done.

cordelli

Be careful if you are traveling to a health department clinic outside of where you live, some have two price levels, one for the residents they serve, and one much higher (on par with private clinics) for people outside the area.

jiejie

IME, only certain local health departments stock the typhoid vaccine, maybe only the largest city ones but not those in smaller cities/counties. If you are in Wisconsin, have you called the main county health dept clinic in Madison and/or Milwaukee?

Or you could just forego the typhoid vaccine altogether, unless you are going to the Indian subcontinent. It's fairly rare for visitors to SE Asia to come down with this. It's even rare for long-term expats to encounter. The Heps are far more important. And a tetanus booster. You should also ask about the single-injection vaccine, which is normally cheaper than the oral. One shot and you're done with it. The newer Typhim vaccine has very little side effect and sore-armness compared to the one they used to give years ago.

If there is a shortage of the Typhim shot vaccine, then you could just go to Bangkok and get it. Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, Vaccination Clinic as mentioned here. I think their all-in price for the service and vaccine is going to be about USD 15 equivalent. This is a highly reputable place, on a par with the major private hospitals in Bangkok for this sort of thing.

walterj

We went to the travel clinic at Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee located at Froedtert Hospital.

We paid $100 fee for two, my wife and I, for the doctor consultation. The doctor was excellent, provided us with a lot of information. We already have hepatitis A and B as well as tetanus vaccination. We got a prescription for oral typhoid fever vaccine, a live vaccine that you take four capsules, taking one every two days. Also got a prescription for 80 days of doxycycline for malaria.
The pharmacy at the hospital charged $56 for the oral typhoid fever vaccine and $20 for 80 days of doxycycline.
Really reasonable prices for everything.

jdtravel

Glad it worked out so well.

MSPeconomist

Some health insurance is really good on covering anything preventive. Also, if someone has student status, university health services usually do pre-travel stuff for free or a small fee.

gopackjo

For those closer to Madison/Rockford, I've had really good luck with Rock County health department in Janesville.

http://www.co.rock.wi.us/public-resources

EtoileFilante

Bumping this up... anyone have any good resources in Chicagoland for cheap immunizations? Am particularly looking for the typhoid vaccine/pills...

MSPeconomist

For cheap, start with public medical schools (or your own school if you're a student). Then try local country health departments.

Your own health plan might cover this as a preventive measure.

abari

Keep in mind that most vaccines aren't usually fully effective right after injection. Usually you want to aim to get them at least a month prior to travel.

For example the hep a/b is like 80% after 2 weeks, ~90% 1 month after, 95% 2 months, 97% 3 months, etc until capping out at about 99%. Obviously those numbers depend on a huuuuge variety of factors and are just ballparking for arguments sake, but getting a vaccine on arrival isn't the safest method of protecting yourself, even though it is usually the cheapest.