Vaccine advise

[how241]

I want to get current on all the required vaccines. I am a 70 year old man in good health.   Last year, against the doctors recommendation, I insisted on getting the pneumonia 23  vaccine instead of the #13 thinking it was newer, better, and covered more viruses. I know foolish.  The doctor said to come back in 1 year and get the #13.  Good idea ?   I also want to get the Zoster-shingles vaccine.  It's been 15 years since my last tetanus booster.  I also was considering the flu shot and possible a covid -19 vaccine ???   I had the Hep. A + B in 2009 so I don't know if I need a booster on those ?  I was reading about a RSV vaccine, don't know if it's a good thing.  Also a 'Chikungunya vaccine ??  Generally speaking it is better to get vaccines one at a time or can you safely get 2 on the same day ??  Thanks for any help or info.  Please don't respond if you are an  anti-vax believer. 

[connda]

Don't forget the Japanese Encephalitis and Rabies shots.  And Covid boosters.  And Dengue shots.  Oh wait - you don't need the Dengue shots as your over the age that they advise to get them.  Yellow Fever.  That should do it. 

[how241]

Just now, connda said:

Don't forget the Japanese Encephalitis and Rabies shots.  And Covid boosters.  And Dengue shots.  Oh wait - you don't need the Dengue shots as your over the age that they advise to get them.  Yellow Fever.  That should do it. 

Thanks.  I'm not sure if you're be sarcastic or not.  You might be right but I don't think I would go for the rabies shot or yellow fever. 

[frank83628]

there is also the ' hit by a bus' vaccine?

 

i am far from 70, so forgive me, but if you are in good health as you say, then why are you worried about getting any vaccines for covid. i understand tetanus, and usual stuff. 

[Sheryl]

1 hour ago, how241 said:

I want to get current on all the required vaccines. I am a 70 year old man in good health.   Last year, against the doctors recommendation, I insisted on getting the pneumonia 23  vaccine instead of the #13 thinking it was newer, better, and covered more viruses. I know foolish.  The doctor said to come back in 1 year and get the #13.  Good idea ?   I also want to get the Zoster-shingles vaccine.  It's been 15 years since my last tetanus booster.  I also was considering the flu shot and possible a covid -19 vaccine ???   I had the Hep. A + B in 2009 so I don't know if I need a booster on those ?  I was reading about a RSV vaccine, don't know if it's a good thing.  Also a 'Chikungunya vaccine ??  Generally speaking it is better to get vaccines one at a time or can you safely get 2 on the same day ??  Thanks for any help or info.  Please don't respond if you are an  anti-vax believer. 

Having gotten the Pneumax 23 you need (1 year later) to get the Prevnar 13. 

 

Should also gef Shingrix vaccine.  Needs 2 injections 2 months apart. 

 

Definitely should get influenza vaccine and at your age need the high dose one.  Get it soon as flu season is already here.

 

Yes, should get the updated COVID vaccine (if you have no prior COVID vaccinations then 2-3 doses will be needed, I'm not sure of the intetvsl but doctor can advise).

 

At some point should get a tetanus booster as well.

 

Flu and COVID are the mist pressing for you and can be given at same time. 

 

Shingrix, tetanus and Prevnar 13 can all be given together if necessary but you might do better to get the Shingrix separately as some people feel ill afterwards. (All I had was a sore arm, but some really feel ill for a few days,). 

 

 

[Sheryl]

15 minutes ago, frank83628 said:

there is also the ' hit by a bus' vaccine?

 

i am far from 70, so forgive me, but if you are in good health as you say, then why are you worried about getting any vaccines for covid. i understand tetanus, and usual stuff. 

Perhaps because at 70 he is at elevated risk of serious illness/death if he gets COVID.

 

People do still die of COVID and a high percentage of those are people over 65. (Same is true of influenza).

 

If he has never been vaccinated and never before had COVID then he is at particularly high risk. 

 

 

[Tropicalevo]

1 hour ago, how241 said:

I am a 70 year old man in good health. 

I am 73 with two chronic diseases (COPD and kidneys). I struggle to walk (breathing).

I kept up the Covid jabs when they were available and caught Covid three times, according to the tests. Felt rough, very bad cold syndrome for three days each time.

I get the latest flu jab every year as part of my annual check up (damaged lung) and have kept up to date with tetanus.

Passed the medical for the work permit renewal (doc said that I could live to be 100) and the doc at the annual check up said that I had the heart of a 40 year old. Good for another 30 years.

That's it. Ignore Conda's comments. Listen to Sheryl and look after the old ticker.

[The Fugitive]

12 hours ago, how241 said:

I want to get current on all the required vaccines. I am a 70 year old man in good health.   Last year, against the doctors recommendation, I insisted on getting the pneumonia 23  vaccine instead of the #13 thinking it was newer, better, and covered more viruses. I know foolish.  The doctor said to come back in 1 year and get the #13.  Good idea ?   I also want to get the Zoster-shingles vaccine.  It's been 15 years since my last tetanus booster.  I also was considering the flu shot and possible a covid -19 vaccine ???   I had the Hep. A + B in 2009 so I don't know if I need a booster on those ?  I was reading about a RSV vaccine, don't know if it's a good thing.  Also a 'Chikungunya vaccine ??  Generally speaking it is better to get vaccines one at a time or can you safely get 2 on the same day ??  Thanks for any help or info.  Please don't respond if you are an  anti-vax believer. 

Excellent advice (as always from Sheryl). I would heed it. I find this information most useful (from United Kingdom National Health Service). https://www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk/destinations/asia-east/thailand

[how241]

14 hours ago, Sheryl said:

Perhaps because at 70 he is at elevated risk of serious illness/death if he gets COVID.

 

People do still die of COVID and a high percentage of those are people over 65. (Same is true of influenza).

 

If he has never been vaccinated and never before had COVID then he is at particularly high risk. 

 

 

Excellent advise, as always.  I really appreciate your complete and detailed answers.  I recently bought Cigna Intl. insurance with zero deductible and zero co-pay so now I need to contact the Pattaya Bangkok Hospital and find out exactly what the steps are to get these vaccines done under my 1 million USD coverage. I have never had any insurance here before so I'm not familiar with the claims procedures.  They are not so close to me so I hope they can advise me over the phone But I am guessing they might just tell me to come in first to confirm my coverage ?

[newbee2022]

15 hours ago, how241 said:

I want to get current on all the required vaccines. I am a 70 year old man in good health.   Last year, against the doctors recommendation, I insisted on getting the pneumonia 23  vaccine instead of the #13 thinking it was newer, better, and covered more viruses. I know foolish.  The doctor said to come back in 1 year and get the #13.  Good idea ?   I also want to get the Zoster-shingles vaccine.  It's been 15 years since my last tetanus booster.  I also was considering the flu shot and possible a covid -19 vaccine ???   I had the Hep. A + B in 2009 so I don't know if I need a booster on those ?  I was reading about a RSV vaccine, don't know if it's a good thing.  Also a 'Chikungunya vaccine ??  Generally speaking it is better to get vaccines one at a time or can you safely get 2 on the same day ??  Thanks for any help or info.  Please don't respond if you are an  anti-vax believer. 

You don't expect an honest answer, do you?😂😂😂

[Sheryl]

15 minutes ago, how241 said:

Excellent advise, as always.  I really appreciate your complete and detailed answers.  I recently bought Cigna Intl. insurance with zero deductible and zero co-pay so now I need to contact the Pattaya Bangkok Hospital and find out exactly what the steps are to get these vaccines done under my 1 million USD coverage. I have never had any insurance here before so I'm not familiar with the claims procedures.  They are not so close to me so I hope they can advise me over the phone But I am guessing they might just tell me to come in first to confirm my coverage ?

Unless you selected the optional " Heath and Wellbeing" coverage in addition to the main plan, (not worth the money IMO compared to self-pay), outpatient vaccinations are not covered. 

 

BPH might nto have all of these vaccines. In particular they may not have the new, updated COVID vaccine and the high dosage flu vaccine. And, their costs will be high (as above, you will likely have to self-pay).

 

Best option to get all is the Mahidol Clinic in Bangkok

https://www.thaitravelclinic.com/cost.html

 

 

[how241]

10 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Unless you selected the optional " Heath and Wellbeing" coverage in addition to the main plan, (not worth the money IMO compared to self-pay), outpatient vaccinations are not covered. 

I didn't select anything extra but there was an issue with the payment using my Thai debit card and the selling agent said she would give me the 'Health and Wellbeing'  for free....Here is my coverage:  

Your plan includes:

• Annual benefit limit: USD 1,000,000.00 
•  
• WorldWide Excluding USA
•  
• Health & Wellbeing

• Benefits

• International Health and Wellbeing

[how241]

I wonder if it is worth the time and costs(taxis) to go to Bangkok.  I am lazy and not so concerned about costs.  Convenience is #1  for me.   If Pattaya Bangkok doesn't have the proper vaccines then I have no other choice.  Thanks again for all of your help.

[how241]

1 hour ago, Sheryl said:

Unless you selected the optional " Heath and Wellbeing" coverage in addition to the main plan, (not worth the money IMO compared to self-pay), outpatient vaccinations are not covered. 

 

I hope a routine colonoscopy will be covered.  

[Sheryl]

I am doubtful of BPH having all that you need vaccibne-wise but you can ask.

 

Make sure to specify the high dose flu vaccine not regular, and updated COVID vaccine (covering omicron variants)

 

Under International Health & Wellbeing, vaccines are not covered. They would be covered only under the optional outpatient cover.  So you will be paying for all vacciantions yourslef.

 

Re colonoscopy, under the Health & Wellbeing option, it is covered up to $325

 

Suggest you familiarize yourself with coverage details, shown here

https://www.cignaglobal.com/individuals-families/international-health-insurance/global-professionals/optional-benefits

 

Normally for anything other than hospital admission, you pay first then claim reimbursement.

[how241]

Thanks again for your help and info.  I am definitely getting disappointed by this lack of coverage.  Maybe buying this Insurance was a bad idea and I should just 'self-insure' as I have always had...I thought they would want to cover things that are not costly and their purpose is to keep you healthy.  I just called to hospital to see what the next steps are and the Insurance lady was out to lunch and will be calling me back to explain what is covered.  I am Not liking the sound of this whole thing already. 

[LukKrueng]

17 hours ago, Sheryl said:

 

If he has never been vaccinated and never before had COVID then he is at particularly high risk. 

 

 

Or maybe if at his age he managed NOT to get infected he's not at high risk?

[rumak]

2 hours ago, newbee2022 said:

You don't expect an honest answer, do you?😂😂😂

 

there are more than a few of us that are not able to give our honest answers .   still in the minority , i guess .  

 

[Sheryl]

54 minutes ago, how241 said:

Thanks again for your help and info.  I am definitely getting disappointed by this lack of coverage.  Maybe buying this Insurance was a bad idea and I should just 'self-insure' as I have always had...I thought they would want to cover things that are not costly and their purpose is to keep you healthy.  I just called to hospital to see what the next steps are and the Insurance lady was out to lunch and will be calling me back to explain what is covered.  I am Not liking the sound of this whole thing already. 

The purpose of getting insurance is to protect you from large hospital bills, not small costs like vaccinations. If you wanted cover for things like that, you could have added (at considerable expense) the outpatient cover, but that makes little sense given how inexpensive outpatient visits usually are here and how much it increases your premium.

 

Health insurance is not the same as  a health maintenance organization (of which there are none here).  It's purpose is not to keep you healthy, but rather to indemnify you against major health care costs through risk sharing among the pool of insured persons.

 

Keep your insurance. Should you have a major health event or accident, you'll be glad you did.

 

 

 

 

[how241]

If anyone is interested, I paid 25K THB monthly  but it will get lowered by 3% as I am switching to quarterly payments.  I have zero deductible-zero co-pay.   I have no exclusions and I didn't have to take any physical exams.  They only asked me a few questions.  

31 minutes ago, LukKrueng said:

Or maybe if at his age he managed NOT to get infected he's not at high risk?

I got the 3 covid shots when the Thai govt. was giving them out.  I think I had covid a few times.  I didn't test every time I got sick but one time I tested positive for covid.  I never went to the hospitals for covid and never took any covid meds.  I just rode it out.  On a side note,  my long time live with Thai lady(38)never got any covid shots and she is never sick.  She even eats raw beef and other things I think are crazy/risky.  She will leave food out unrefrigerated for  many hours and still never gets sick.  Her immune system works great.

[how241]

19 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Keep your insurance. Should you have a major health event or accident, you'll be glad you did.

Yes, that's why I bought it.  I also liked the idea of not having to show a lot of cash before they will work on you. I don't want to be sick or hurt badly and have to talk about up front payments although my Thai lady could have done this for me.  I could have lowered my premium down 30-40% by taking higher deductibles.  They did offer a inside Thailand only policy which I thought would be great for me.  It was about $4500 UDS yearly, much cheaper BUT  it did Not include a private room so that was an immediate no-go for me.  Also the coverage was 250k/500k, which is probable enough but I really didn't understand what the 2 levels of coverage were.  The shared room was the main reason I didn't go for it.  I don't really plan on traveling so I don't need worldwide coverage. I believe they will only cover me for 21 days in the USA  as I didn't but that extra add-on policy. It's hard to decide what's the right insurance to buy.

[The Fugitive]

9 minutes ago, how241 said:

 I have no exclusions and I didn't have to take any physical exams.  They only asked me a few questions.

I recently applied for a Health Plan. I specifically mentioned two pre-existing conditions. They quoted for the original advertised price, no mention of my pre-existing conditions, or whether they would be excluded or not. I considered this too good to be true. I emailed back reiterating my two pre-existing conditions. The broker said he'd have to ask the company and he'd get back. The answer was that my pre-existing conditions would be excluded. I wasn't happy that he hadn't asked first time around. I didn't proceed with the policy.

[Amethyst]

A trolling post and ensuing reply have been removed.

 

[how241]

3 hours ago, how241 said:

I didn't select anything extra but there was an issue with the payment using my Thai debit card and the selling agent said she would give me the 'Health and Wellbeing'  for free.

Now I see why the selling agent gave me this free 'Health and Wellbeing'....It's basically useless and worthless.

[how241]

8 minutes ago, The Fugitive said:

The broker said he'd have to ask the company and he'd get back. 

I didn't use any broker.  I bought my insurance directly from the Cigna website. Very quick and easy to do.  I had an issue because my Krungsri Visa card had a 100,000K  limit...I should have immediately changed the  billing card to Kasikorn which carries a much higher limit but I didn't want to 'rock-the-boat' and let the Krungsri card be the one for payments...Paying in full would have given me a 10%  discount.  To leave things alone, I settled for quarterly payments giving me a 3% discount.  Not such a big deal either way.

[Sheryl]

4 minutes ago, how241 said:

Now I see why the selling agent gave me this free 'Health and Wellbeing'....It's basically useless and worthless.

Not really.

 

It covers a number of health checkups including colonoscopy.  Annual check up, prostate screening, colonoscopy = about $1,000 right there 

 

Also covers pyschological vounselling. 

 

 

[how241]

1 minute ago, Sheryl said:

It covers a number of health checkups including colonoscopy.  Annual check up, prostate screening, colonoscopy = about $1,000 right there 

That sounds good as I did want to get a full health check up.  It's been 15+  years.  It looks like they will pay about 11k THB  towards the colonoscopy which is OK, I guess.

The PB hospital had a colonoscopy special running for around 16K,  which is exactly the same price I paid there 10 years ago when I had the last one done. I thought that was a very good price. The special may be over now  The regular price is about 22K, or so.   

[The Fugitive]

1 hour ago, how241 said:

I didn't use any broker.  I bought my insurance directly from the Cigna website. Very quick and easy to do. 

I've just obtained a quote myself. It is, as you state, very easy. No questions about pre-existing conditions. Have you received, completed and returned the medical questionnaire they mention?

[connda]

20 hours ago, how241 said:

Thanks.  I'm not sure if you're be sarcastic or not.  You might be right but I don't think I would go for the rabies shot or yellow fever. 

Most of those are recommended for first time travelers to Thailand.  Regarding Rabies.  If you deal with animals in Thailand I'd recommend the five shot series.  I deal with a lot of animals as I have 9 dogs of my own and take care of temple dogs and strays including cats.  So I stay up to date on my Rabies.  Rabies IS endemic in Thailand.  Nips happen. 

[charleskerins]

21 hours ago, how241 said:

I want to get current on all the required vaccines. I am a 70 year old man in good health.   Last year, against the doctors recommendation, I insisted on getting the pneumonia 23  vaccine instead of the #13 thinking it was newer, better, and covered more viruses. I know foolish.  The doctor said to come back in 1 year and get the #13.  Good idea ?   I also want to get the Zoster-shingles vaccine.  It's been 15 years since my last tetanus booster.  I also was considering the flu shot and possible a covid -19 vaccine ???   I had the Hep. A + B in 2009 so I don't know if I need a booster on those ?  I was reading about a RSV vaccine, don't know if it's a good thing.  Also a 'Chikungunya vaccine ??  Generally speaking it is better to get vaccines one at a time or can you safely get 2 on the same day ??  Thanks for any help or info.  Please don't respond if you are an  anti-vax believer. 

Definitely get the shingles one.I got the three shot rabies after being slightly bitten.