Cheapo jabs (covered by our health insurance)

Plan ahead – this one’s important and the two shots must be spaced six months apart. On the other hand, if you don’t have time and contract Hep A anyway, then you’ll develop your own immunity and probably lower your cholesterol count in the process. We didn’t realize we could get this through our health plan and stupidly paid top dollar for the first shot.

Three shots. The second should be a month after the first, and then the third can be anywhere from two to five months after that – we think. If you’re not planning on sexual contact or blood transfusions then you’re not supposed to worry about this one. But it’s a potentially fatal disease, so why not?

One booster every ten years.

One booster shot as an adult will last a lifetime.

Can’t remember which childhood diseases you had? Then get one of these to be on the safe side.

Top shelf shots

One shot, duration two years. $70.

One shot, duration three years. $85.

Three shots over twenty eight days at $100 a pop. Do you really need this one? Apparently only seven tourists have died from this, so you probably don’t, but who wants to be an interesting statistic? This one also has potentially nasty side effects, just in case it wasn’t aggravating enough in the first place.

Another iffy one – they say you don’t need this unless you’re going to be in remote areas for more than a month at a time. Given our severe birdwatching habit, we thought it might be a good idea for us. This one wins the price war, requiring three shots over twenty eight days, at $150 each. To rub salt into the wound, if you do happen to get bitten by something rabid then you need another two shots right after. Makes you wonder what the point really is (apart from making the drug companies rich) but at least it’s no longer necessary to have a giant needle stuck into your stomach.