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Typhoid vaccine for South Africa and Zimbabwe

JohnS

In a little over a week we are on our way to South Africa. We visited our travel clinic last week and got a supply of Maralone for anti malaria and some Z pack for the dreaded travelers diarrhea. The Dr. also recommended that we get a booster for typhoid, the oral vaccine Vivotif. The pharmacy informed us that they cannot fill this because it has been discontinued by the manufacturer. Doing a Google search I confirmed that this has been temporarily discontinued in the US due to reduction of international travel caused by Covid 19. We called several pharmacies and there are none that have this or can get it. Both my wife and I got this vaccine about 5 years ago prior to our Northern India and Nepal trip. The protection period is supposed to last 5 years and technically we have a couple more months of protection.

My question to those who have traveled to South Africa…did you get a typhoid vaccine prior to traveling? What was the consensus for the vaccine need?

My other question is about the tap water in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Was tap water generally safe to drink? My research on Cape Town and Johannesburg shows safe tap water. Victoria Falls seem to be a bit iffy. I am not sure about the lodges in the game reserves. When we traveled to Northern India and Nepal, bottled water was the norm. They even went as far as telling us to keep our mouths shut when showering.

Comments

British

I am sure you will be fine with the coverage you already have. Don’t forget, the five years is an average of how long a vaccine remains effective and hopefully you have good immune systems. You know, I feel a travel clinic should be up to date on vaccine availability.
Water, Your TD will direct you what you can and cannot drink meanwhile, until you are sure, just use bottled water and even brush your teeth with it. Bottled water is always plentiful. To help you remember not to use the tap water for teeth, place a wash cloth over the cold tap, I often use a hair bobble or even an elastic band around the tap to remind me.
Please write a report on the forum when you get back!

British

John, could you let me know how the Zimbabwe authorities are about looking at your CPR Covid report?

JohnS

We have not gotten the yellow fever vaccine yet. We started to look into getting it in 2019 but this Covid thing started and put a kibosh on all our travel plans. We asked the travel doc about getting it and she said it is not needed since we are not coming from, going through or going to an area of concern for yellow fever. Our current 2022 travel plans don’t take us to any yellow fever areas. We will look into this when we need to. The yellow fever vaccine is also a hard thing to find.

I have also read that the yellow fever vaccine is not usually recommended for those over 60. We are in that age group and my observation from our past Tauck trips is that many of us if not most of us are in that age group.

My wife or I, or both of us will write some reviews when we get back.

British. We are supposed to get a Covid PCR test on Day 8 in Johannesburg prior to our entry into Zimbabwe. I will let you know how that transpires.

I have also found out that beer is usually a good substitute if the water is iffy.

SueMS

Hi all it's me, the mysterious travel partner (wife) of JohnS. We are planning to get the Yellow fever vax when we have booked a tour that goes into any areas where it is needed. Being that we book any Tauck trips 6+ months in advance, we will have ample time to get it.

I expect between the 2 of us we will come home with numerous photos and experiences to share.
Stay tuned.