As we enter October we look forward to a beautiful time of the year. Autumn leaves, fresh clean air, chilly evenings but perfect days. We have pumpkins, apple cider and Halloween and maybe even a hayride. Who would want to travel elsewhere when the hot summer ends and slowly morphs through a beautiful fall into a cold winter? But when winter does come, thoughts shift to warmer climates and vacations away from snow and ice and freezing.
One of the key roles of public health is to inform travelers about health concerns and vaccinations needed for travel to some areas outside of the United States. Requirements and recommendations vary from country to country, and even by regions within a country. Further, that same information changes from year to year and even from month to month. It can be very confusing.
Fortunately, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a website dedicated to helping would-be travelers in preparing for their destination. It is aptly named, “Travelers’ Health” and is kept constantly up-to-date. Finding the site is as easy as clicking on this link: www.cdc.gov/travel/default.aspx. I’m not going to waste your time describing all the resources and varying information available on the site. You can do that yourself by exploring it. Suffice it to say that if you are even thinking about the possibility of traveling to another country, you should visit this page sooner rather than later. Many destinations do not require any special vaccination, however, some of them do and it may take a while to locate a vaccine provider and arrange to receive the appropriate vaccination(s).
Most health departments, including the St. Charles County Department of Community Health and the Environment, do NOT provide vaccines needed by travelers. We do try to provide some guidance that will be useful in finding resources. You can follow this link: www.scchealth.org/docs/ph/ph_docs/travel/index.html.
Enjoy the autumn season, and if you are planning to travel out of the country later this year, do your homework early. Have a good trip!