The committee organized an information session from the GGD, the information of which has been textually summarized below. If you have any questions, you can always get in touch with the committee, but we advise you to get in touch with the GGD for an information session yourself.
GGD Information session
There’s no vaccination advice for each country specifically, this means, that we are not obligated to get vaccinations for any of the destinations. There are some specifics for each country, but these only apply to regions that we won’t be going to. Nevertheless, they are noted below.
Japan: Japanese encephalitis, is a rare disease carried mostly by mosquito bites which can be dangerous in rare cases. You should get vaccinated if you stay for longer than a month on the mainland in regions with livestock.
Singapore: Yellow fever, but this only applies if you come from regions where this is a big problem.
Singapore and Taiwan: Hepatitis B, is a viral infection of your liver because of contact with blood. This only applies if you go there for work or a longer stay. Hepatitis B vaccinations are recommended anyway, but not necessary. The GGD advises to be careful with sex in each country.
Some more dangers have been gone over which I will go over by text in the following paragraphs. In Taiwan, rabies is a problem with wild animals, however, this mostly applies to hunters and not travellers. For people who would like to travel after the trip and will stay in the countryside in one of the three countries, it might be interesting to look at. Getting bitten by a wild animal could be the end of your trip if you need to get a rabies serum. If you intend to travel onward, Hepatitis A and B shots are also more advised to get.
There are quite a few diseases related to mosquitos in each country and the entirety of Asia. Tiger mosquitos are active both in the day and in the night and carry three diseases many people know about, Dengue, Zika, and Chikungunya. You can get very, very sick because of these. This means that we will have to use a lotion on the entirety of your body with 30% DEET (protective for 6 hours) or 40% DEET (protective for 8 hours), which is the preferred version. First, apply sunscreen, let it dry, and then apply the DEET on top. Always sleep with mosquito protection, meaning an Airco or mosquito net.
Always bring a thermometer with you so that you can check if you’re just hot or if you have a fever. If you have a fever, ALWAYS go see a doctor. We will have to be careful with food and hand contact and food. If you have diarrhoea, you take ORS, general EHBO supplies will have to be taken with us as well. But if you think something is going on, then you have to go to a GP.
There are parasites in all waters in each country, and again, rabies is possible in Taiwan. If you get bit by a mammal, often monkeys or dogs and bats in caves, you will need to clean the wound for 15 minutes with water and soap and then get a serum and three vaccines. Rabies is a horrible disease with an almost 100% death rate, so if you get bit, your holiday is over and you will need to get these shots. If this happens, we will get in touch with your health insurance, they will arrange everything for you. If you get vaccines against rabies, it is a lot easier and you will be able to continue the holiday.
There is no need to get a malaria shot. Even though water from the tap is safe in most countries we’re going to, we should aim to always buy bottles of water. We should also be careful with ice not made with bottled water and check for the doneness of food items.
If you want any of the shots, you should be very careful in timing, and get in touch with the GGD as soon as possible.
If you are travelling onward, DTP might be nice for you as well. It’s an extra one of your child’s vaccines. Another one that might be interesting for some is the dengue vaccine, but you will need to be on time, as you need two shots with three months in between.