Vaccinations needed in Peru and Chile?
 

Hi,

My GF and I will be travelling to Chile and Peru in May and the CDC advises you get the Hepatitis A/B, Typhoid, MMR, Tetanus, and yellow fever shots. I already have the Hep B and MMR shots. I was thinking of getting the Hep A and tetanus shot but not sure about the yellow fever and typhoid shots. The cities we'll be visiting are Lima, Cusco, Santiago, and Easter Island. I know with the recent burn of BA miles to Avios, alot of people booked this same itinerary or something similar, are you taking these precautions at all? Do you recommend getting all these vaccines or are some not necessary with the correct precautions when we are down there? I know its better to be safe than sorry but just wanted to know your thoughts.

Thanks

Those are all well enough developed places that you should be okay with just routine vaccines that you already have. Hepatitis A vaccine is good to have in general, however, and is good for a lifetime.

One caution re: Peru is that yellow fever vaccine is needed for the Amazon region. Some other countries will not let you in within a short time after travel to Peru since they don't know if you went to this region. (I know someone who was denied entry to Panama for this reason, even though they had only been in Lima, which is not a yellow fever zone.)

Tetanus and Hep A should should get anyway, even for the US. The rest? If you aren't going to the jungle, it is your call.

There is a oral typhoid "vaccine" that you can consider too. Primarily food borne so depends on how you plan to travel.

I have been spending a large amount of time in Chile (in a region less developed than Santiago) and have not had any vaccines other than the routine ones I'd had growing up in the U.S. & Canada.

Several Americans I know in Chile are the same and have also travelled to Peru without additional vaccines.

With that said: I have not eaten raw fruit and vegetables without peeling them or soaking them in disinfectant solution first. I was warned to do this as a precaution against typhoid, etc. Be cautious in restaurants. Usually they are good about peeling uncooked fruits and veggies (I am always served sandwiches with peeled(!) tomatoes in them in Chile). They don't serve or eat a lot of greens anyways so that helps.