Vaccinations needed for Kenya
International
My wife and I are going to travel to Kenya. I have read the list of vaccinations required. It seems to be very comprehensive and overwhelming.
Has anyone traveled to Kenya recently and what shots have you gotten that were required?
Are they "required" or "recommended"?
If you don’t already have a travel doctor you can always visit the CDC website to get info including travel clinics near you. Being prior military I never had to worry about this until I retired, but since then I’ve found a good travel med service.
Having previously been stationed in East Africa I can confirm that it’s no joke for diseases, vectors and parasites. It isn’t like visiting South Africa.
I also did a little stint in East Africa. I did travel to Kenya, ate and drank with no impact.
But since I was in the Navy I had already been saturated with vaccines. So sorry no pertinent info.
Watch your mixed drinks, I had a Baboon walk over and grab my drink off the table at a tourist spot.
I ate and drank with no issues while there. I was trying to feed a monkey a dog treat when the little bastard stole the bag out of my other hand and ran away. Fun times...
What are your ages and how up to date are you on routine vaccinations? If I was going I’d be caught up on HepA/B, MMR, TDaP, Meningococcal, Flu, Varicella, and Pneumonia (but I’d have recommended those anyway and all age dependent for specific lists). I’d get typhoid shot a month before travel. I’d consider yellow fever and the oral cholera vaccines although these aren’t required depending on which area you are going to. I’d also ask my primary doctor for a script of doxycycline or malarone to take for the duration of the trip for malaria prevention, as well as a few other travel meds.
Your local board of health can tell you exactly what you need depending on where you are going. The yellow fever is the biggie and if you aren’t leaving Kenya and returning while you’re there it my not be required. We needed it because we started in Kenya, went to Tanzania and then back to Kenya.
You should be asking your questions to health care professionals with knowledge of diseases in Africa.
What Ollie said x2. A lot depends on where you’re going in Kenya but we’ll assume some of the time will be out of the city and into villages or the veld. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to visit a clinic and be properly prepared. A few years back my guide and I sat a bait in Zambia and as evening approached unexpectedly got swarmed by mosquitoes. I was on malarone and was unaffected, he wasn’t on anything, later contracted a severe case of malaria and almost died.
Make sure your tetanus shot is up to date. If you get cut or poked, infection could set in.
FWIW.....if no one has looked yet, here is the straight skinny from the CDC for Kenya. It is broken down by: All Travelers, Most Travelers and Some Travelers.
This seems to be sound advice from the CDC link. Me thinks you'll need two Doc visits. One to order the shots and another to administer the shots. That should be factored into the below.
"Check the vaccines and medicines list and visit your doctor at least a month before your trip to get vaccines or medicines you may need."
Good advice, thanks all. We were set to go in October but changed to April 2021 because of the Covid.
I hate to say it but it sure makes me appreciate my NC and Virginia hunts a whole lot better.
