Travel vaccinations can keep you out of the hospital during your much needed vacation.

(INFOTEL MULTIMEDIA / iNFOnews.ca)

White sand, hot sun, exotic sights and amazing food and drinks are what vacations are made of.

When you work all year to enjoy those luxuries you certainly don’t want to be making a trip to the emergency room in a foreign country, or spending your sunny vacation days trapped in the bathroom while everyone else around you is lying on the beach.

Avoiding nasty illnesses should be top of mind when planning a vacation. Travel medicine can keep you safe and healthy while away, and vaccinations prior to your holiday can provide protection from more serious illnesses like Hepatitis A and B, Typhoid Fever, Meningitis, Yellow Fever and more.

“Receiving shots and medications will give you the confidence to eat, drink and do whatever you like, no matter where you are,” says Kristina Gifford, pharmacist and owner of Kipp-Mallery Pharmacy in Kamloops.

She says it’s important to seek advice early, at least eight weeks prior to departure, as some vaccinations are given in two or three doses.

“A travel medicine pharmacist can provide you with a detailed pre-travel consultation. This will include evaluating your travel itinerary and your relevant medical history (vaccination history, current and past medications, allergies, chronic diseases) in order to provide vaccinations, medication recommendations and other advice to help you plan a safe trip,” explains Gifford.

Many people aren’t up-to-date with booster doses of routine vaccinations. Travelling abroad may put you at risk of a variety of preventable diseases if those boosters are kept up.

To ensure you are getting accurate and current information about travel medicine, Kipp-Mallery has a certified International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM) pharmacist on staff.

While consulting with the pharmacist, you can also receive information on medications to prevent malaria, traveler’s diarrhea, altitude illness and non-vaccine preventable diseases such as Dengue Fever, Zika and others.

Assembling a basic travel health kit to take with you can go a long way in relieving minor ailments. Some of the items Gifford suggests you take along include anti-diarrheal medication, antihistamines, anti-motion sickness medication, pain relievers, laxatives, antacids, anti-bacterial ointment, band-aids and aloe gel for sunburns.

If you take regular medications, bringing the prescriptions along is a good idea in case something should happen to your medications while away. By having the script in hand, a pharmacist can refill them.

Drinking bottled water when possible, being mindful of what you eat and paying attention to local hygiene standards will also keep you healthy while away.

Regardless of where you’re travelling, talking with your primary care provider and pharmacist will go a long way in keeping you out of the hospital and sick bed.

For more information on travel medications, vaccine pricing, consultation fees and travel accessories and tips, visit www.kipp-mallery.ca

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