Twinrix Vaccine

[melmich]

We are going on a cruise in January and I am wondering if I should get my kids vaccinated for Hepatitis A and B. We will be in Roatan (doing a city tour and a beach) and Belize (we might stay on the ship as I have not found anything interesting yet) and Cozumel (Beach day).

 

My kids have all standard vaccination, and are 2 and 5?

[lucyddr]

I'd talk to your pediatrician to verify what I'm about to say...

 

1. Your children are likely arleady vaccinated against Hep B as most hospitals perform the first of three vaccinations prior to leaving the hospital or shortly thereafter. If titers have never been done, then it might be worth checking them to guarentee that the vaccine "took."

2. Hepatitis A is a self-limited disease. As long as your children are healthy with good livers, they should be able to tolerate the infection in the unlikely event that they get it.

3. While Hepatitis A could potentially be acquired in these areas, Hep B is less likely.

4. The odds of getting these illnesses in the maximum of 3 days you are spending within these areas are very, very small!

 

My answer would be "No, the twinrix vaccine is not needed," but I still think the final discussion and decisions should be between you and your childrens' pediatrician.

[Batch007]

if they have standard vac (in canada at least) then they are already vacinated against Hep B - you would only need to get them Hep A.

 

Check with your doc, but we will be in Mexico in a couple of weeks and I went to get my Twinrix and asked my doc about my kids - he said Hep B is the bigger concern, Hep A would be like them getting a flu at their age (my kids are 3 & 5). I chose not to, but pls this is a question for your doctor or pharmacist

[crusinmama06]

My kids both have Hep B AND Hep A on their standard list of vaxs. My doc started adding in Hep A last year.

 

So call your doc and see what vaxs your kids had.

[sharktums]

In California the Hep A Vaccine is also considered routine and they get it around 2 years of age. I got it for my daughter at 15 months (ped said it was proved safe for that age) because we were going to China.

[bigpuma]

My kids both have Hep B AND Hep A on their standard list of vaxs. My doc started adding in Hep A last year.

 

So call your doc and see what vaxs your kids had.

 

+1 I would think they should get both Hep A and B regardless of travel plans.

[cuppycakemom]

Hep A is really one of those depends on you/your child vaccines. If you don't mind vaccines, go for it. If you're more not into giving a lot of vaccines, this is one that many peds will tell you to not worry too much about....assuming your child is otherwise healthy. Like a PP said, for most young (healthy) children, it would be like getting the flu with no long term effects.

 

If you do get the vax, I believe that it's a 2 shot series separated by a few months, so verify that (of course...it's late and I'm tired) and start it enough ahead of your cruise to get both doses.

 

We have Hep A shots for the grown ups (can cause way more issues), but have opted to not give them to our girls ages 5 and 3 (we are delayed vaxers, if that matters).

[sas80]

We are going on a cruise in January and I am wondering if I should get my kids vaccinated for Hepatitis A and B. We will be in Roatan (doing a city tour and a beach) and Belize (we might stay on the ship as I have not found anything interesting yet) and Cozumel (Beach day).

 

My kids have all standard vaccination, and are 2 and 5?

 

I would google your islands and see if there is potential for Hep A and B exposure (so you get informed) and then I would suggest that you speak with your doctor/advice nurse about this. (it seems like docs are always ready and watiing to vaccinate kids with anything)

 

It should be fairly easy to just call the nurse at the doctors office and have a chat. I would suggest, if you do it, get it done as soon as possible in case there are any after effects (fever, sniffles, bad moods, etc) That way you can get thru those before you leave on your trip.

[sas80]

(we are delayed vaxers, if that matters).

 

We are also delayed vaxers. I though I would give a shout out.

 

DS is 2 years old and we just manged to find a pediatrician who wouldn't threaten us with kicking us out of the practice if we didn't vaccinate "on schedule". It can be such a nightmare!

[pkrchkr]

I have mine.. I have a condition called hereditary hemochromatosis and do not want to risk any more damage being done to my liver then the chromasomal defect has caused already. DS's had the vaccines in school and are fine for the trip. do not eat anything that is not hot!do not drink anything that isn't in a bottle, do not take your beverages with ice and do not have anything used on you that could have come in contact with blood..ie nail equipment,tattoo guns( for permanent tatoos) just use caution

[Ladypeartree]

I am from Canada and although the Hepatitis B vaccine is standard, it is standard for kids in grade 4. Therefore your 2 and 5 year old would not have had this vaccine yet. I too will be cruising in January and my pediatrician suggested my kids 3 and 7 be vaccinated for Hepatitis A, since it is usually contracted from foods or water that have been contaminated by human waste. On the other hand Hepatitis B is primarily spread through the exchange of bodily fluids or blood.

[Ladypeartree]

This is an edit to my prior post. I have just read on The Public Health Agency of Canada website that the administration of the Hepatitis B vaccine does vary from one jurisdiction to another in Canada. I am from Quebec and here the vaccine is administered to kids in grade four, as said previously.

[mchiasson]

Hello,

These links might be helpful:

 

CDC page related to international travel

http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/default.aspx

 

WHO 2008 Report on international travel and health

http://www.who.int/ith/en/

 

Children who have not previously been immunized against Hep B (e.g. at birth - depends on your province - we do it in grade 4 in our province, but others start at birth) and who are getting Hep A and B would usually get Twinrix Jr., and the typical schedule would be a 0, 1, and 6 months (so 1st shot, second shot one month later, and third shot 5 months after that). It's a personal decision about whether or not you want to do it, but if you were going to do one (e.g. start Hep B now instead of waiting until later if they don't already have it), it is often suggested that you should just do both (A and B). You are a bit late to be starting if you leave in January, but they would at least get 2 shots in if you started now. If the kids haven't had flu shots (ever/this year), you might want to consider those. Influenza would be of equal (if not greater) concern, especially for children who are on a cruise (higher risk in arguably a higher risk environment of a cruise ship) - we're going for ours on Tuesday (kids 1 and 3, cruising in Feb.) - the kids will be SO thrilled with me! ;-)

 

Good luck!

[Host Jacquelyn]

Hi, chiming in from Ontario here... we vaccinated our kids with Twinrix when they were toddlers. It was available, but we needed to pay for it. It was recommended at the time since the kids were in daycare. It's a good idea regardless.

[NoelsCat]

Delayed vaxers here.

 

We did give the Hep A vacination at 23 months when we went to Belize, Costa Rica and some other "high" risk areas (South and Central America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, the Caribbean, and the Western Pacific.) We didn't do any other vac at the same time.

[Carla1968]

I did get the Twinrix for my daughter (5 at the time).....individual choice though. My doc recommended it for us all.