CONTRIBUTED BY LAN
This question happened to come in on the same day that I took my little one for his first set of shots. Kudos to the nurses at the Lester Immunization Clinic. After days of agonizing over the pain that he would feel (can you tell I’m a bit phobic about vaccines?! :), it was over before I knew it! Now let’s hope things will go as smoothly when I take my 4-year-old in for FIVE shots (I’m wincing as I wrote that). Oh, by the way, if you happen to have any suggestions on how to make vaccines easier for little ones, please let me know.
Ok, so this great question is from Okinawa Hai! reader Cristie. She’d like to know if there’s a need to get extra vaccines for people big and small comin’ over here to the island. Let’s help her out with this important issue, shall we?
“First of all I’d like to say, Thank you soooo much for all the wonderful information that is on this website! My husband, myself and my 3 boys have orders to Camp Butler on Okinawa in August. The big question that I have THIS week is what vaccines do we need? My son’s doctor out in town here in North Carolina told me there are people who can’t de-board over in Okinawa because they haven’t gotten the Japanese Influenza Vaccine. So I called the Naval Hospital here on base and was told it’s optional, my husband has called around and he’s getting a lot of the “run around”. Does anyone, since I know you all have gone through this already, know if this is required? Also if not would you recommend getting it and maybe any other strange vaccines that I don’t know about? Thanks so much! “