Hey all, my private doctor charged about $260 or so (I think) for my first of 2 Hep shots). I need my second Hep shot and want to get my daughters first of two and rabies shots for both of us.
Does anyone know where the cheapest place is in Perth to get these sorts of shots?
Failing that, if anyone knows an ultracheap place in Melbourne to get these sorts of shots, we could perhaps get them there.
Failing that, medical care in Singapore is cheap as chips, has anyone had travel jabs over there?
Hello,
I'm a 4th year med student at UWA.
Can you please let me know what was included with your hepatitis vaccines? Hepatitis B vaccine alone should be much cheaper than $260, but if you were immunised for Hep A + B that might explain the high cost (note Hep C does not have an effective vaccine).
Rabies vaccine is quite expensive no matter where you go.
What areas do you plan on travelling to?
Holy crap. I'm sure mine were nowhere near that.
I went to the place in East Perth that has an on-site nurse to administer them immediately after your appointment: http://www.travelvaccination.com.au/
Wasn't cheap, but definitely not that much!!
Thanks everyone who answered. I thought I'd update on what my doc told me the other day. They were doing our hep shots and gave me some typhoid pills for my lil one. I asked him about rabies shots. They had them in stock at $115, but he said that nowadays the treatment is the same as the prevention. The difference is that if you act to prevent it, you pay $115 times 3 shots. If you come back and say you have been bitten, Medicare covers all costs associated with treatment. He said something about getting an immunoglobulin dose (or something similar sounding) as soon as possible after the bite. Then get ongoing (free treatment) here in Oz. Apparently the post-infection treatment does NOT involve needles directly to the stomach, which is what I believed as I was growing up.
For those who are interested, my 2nd hep shot and my daughters 1st of two were $75 each.
He also gave me some malaria drugs for Laos.
Hi Voteoften,
If you've discussed it with your doctor and would prefer post-exposure prophylaxis, thing there is to make sure the areas you are travelling to stock the immunoglobulin and vaccine at their hospitals. Rabies immunoglobulin may not be that easy to source.
If you havent checked them out yet, WHO and CDC websites are useful for travel info esp re vaccines.
Here's Laos:
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/laos.htm
Here's info on rabies Ig and vax:
http://www.who.int/ith/vaccines/rabies/en/index.html
Medical care in Singapore is cheap as chips, really? Not if you're under Medicare in Aus (for covered items)… ^^"
I'm not sure if you're covered by Medicare (i.e. whether you can get the doc's/nurse's vaccination service bulk billed) so I'm just gonna consider the vaccine cost. If you're looking for the best price, try calling a few pharmacies in the vicinity and asking for a quote for the vaccine you need. You may be able to negotiate a better price than their initial quote.
You didn't mention whether you were going for Hep A, Hep B, or both. It's probably Hep A since you mentioned a two-dose course, in which case Chemist Warehouse (easiest to search, used as a reference) gives me a range of $61.99 to $69.99 for hep A vaccines. (Avaxim, Havrix, VAQTA are the brand names)
The rabies vaccines: Merieux or Rabipur. Can only find a price for 1x Rabipur, though ($104.99) so you'll probably want to ask around to see if anyone can order it in for you/at what price. Rabipur may also come in a box of five vials — you'll probably need at least four shots if you're having the vaccine, check with your doctor.