How Many Vaccines Does It Take to Get to Haiti?

"I have to tell you I'm a little freaked out right now."

Those were the words I uttered about three-quarters of the way through my first appointment with the travel medicine doctor. It had nothing to do with the vaccine I was going to get before I left. Those words spewed out right around the time she said something about "hemorrhagic fever" and "spontaneous bleeding" when discussing a severe case of dengue fever.

Safely traveling to Haiti requires a number of vaccines and medications. So, of course, when visiting a travel medicine doctor, the doctor is obligated to discuss all possible diseases and worst-case scenarios if someone contracts any of them. Dengue fever was just one disease my travel med doctor discussed with me. The list of diseases to avoid in Haiti is extensive but there is a plan to avoid them:

• Hepatitis A and B - Received the first two vaccines. The final one is in approximately five months.
• Rabies - Not needed if animals are avoided but I'm covered anyway because I got the rabies vaccine about 5 years ago after trying to "save" a feral cat.  (The cat won.)
• Chlolera - A vaccine is available in Canada and Europe but it has not been approved in the U.S.  I have to get oral rehydration salts and received a prescription for azithromycin for presumptive use.
• Dengue Fever - There is no vaccine.  Mosquitoes spreading dengue are active during the day (while mosquitoes spreading malaria are active in the evening).  Bottom line: I have to take a vat of DEET with me.  
• Influenza - My employer requires that I get the flu shot so I just got this last week.
• Tetanus/diphtheria/rubella -  I had my last tetanus shot 6 years ago but now there is something called tdap that all adults should have per the CDC.  I received that last week, too.
• Polio - Covered by a childhood vaccine.
• Thyphoid Fever -  I opted for the oral vaccine as it lasts 5 years and the injection only lasts 3 years.  There were four pills so I took one every other day until they were gone. 
• Malaria - I have a prescription for an anti-malarial (chloroquine) that I will start to take two weeks before I go, during the trip, and for 4 weeks after.  (This helps prevent malaria but doesn't guarantee against it.) A nurse I work with told me these meds will probably make me feel sick. Bummer.

I'm confident that all this planning and being proactive will help prevent another "freaked out" moment while helping me avoid some serious diseases.