Vaccinations

One dose of yellow fever vaccination will last at least 10 years and a booster vaccination is recommended after 10 years if you are still at risk from contracting the disease. After your initial vaccination you will be given a certificate to prove you have been vaccinated against the disease for 10 years from the date of vaccination.

Countries in South America including Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, French Guiana and parts of northern Argentina.

Most countries in central Africa have a high risk of yellow fever including Senegal, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Angola and more. The vaccination is also recommended if you are travelling to parts of Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Chad, Niger, Mali and Mauritania. If you are travelling near high risk countries central Africa or South America then speak to one of our GPs as you may be recommended to have injection if you are staying in an area for a long time or if you are in an area with a high exposure risk to mosquitos.

You will be asked to show a certificate of vaccination against yellow fever if you are travelling to high risk countries.

You can search which vaccinations you need for which country via our travel vaccinations page.

Side-effects from the flu vaccination are rare but some people may develop a mild fever or achiness at the site of the injection.

The flu vaccination doesn’t actually contain an active flu virus in it so it doesn’t cause symptoms of flu.

Trynophobia is a fear of needles which can be so severe in some people that they will avoid having vaccinations.

Some vaccinations can be given in oral form rather than via injections, such as malaria, polio and rota virus vaccinations. However, many vaccinations can only be given by injection so if you suffer from trynophobia then it could be worth speaking to a cognitive behaviour therapist or a hypnotherapist to help you deal with your phobia.

Some travel vaccinations may case a risk to the baby during pregnancy. These include ‘live’ vaccinations which means they are prepared from a small amount of the virus which can replicate cells once inside the human body.

Live vaccinations are often used in travel vaccinations such as yellow fever and BGC (for tuberculosis) as well as the oral vaccination for typhoid. Speak to one of our GPs about the risks and benefits of having travel vaccinations – often it will be deemed less dangerous to take the vaccination if you cannot avoid travelling to a high risk country, rather than risking contracting an illness.

Some vaccinations are recommended for pregnant women and include:

• The seasonal flu vaccination is usually given as soon as possible during pregnancy, particularly if you are pregnant during the flu season from September to February but can be given at any time of year and is safe for pregnancy.
• The whooping cough vaccination is recommended to pregnant women when they are between 28 and 38 weeks pregnant to protect the baby from whooping cough when it’s born.
• If you are at a higher risk of contracting hepatitis B, for example if you work in close contact with blood such as in health care or if you travel to countries where the risk is higher, then it may be advisable to have a hepatitis B vaccination when pregnant or planning to become pregnant. This vaccination is safe as there is no evidence that a hepatitis B vaccination harms unborn babies.

Choosing a private clinic for a vaccination means you can be seen by an expert at a time convenient to you for a complete range of vaccinations. Clinic location is a key consideration for vaccinations so look for clinics in your local area as for many vaccinations you will need to visit the clinic more than once, Pall Mall Medical have facilitates in Manchester, Liverpool and Newton-le-Willows.

Choose a clinic which offers a full suite of vaccinations, particularly travel vaccinations where you may need more than one vaccination when traveling to certain areas, this way you can speak to an experts about all the vaccinations you may need for your trip. Look at what reviews and testimonials the clinic has to see the experience previous patients have had at the clinic.

The flu jab is a short-term immunisation which lasts for a few months and is usually given to provide protection throughout the flu season. Yearly injections are advisable for people at risk from flu or complications from flu.

The flu jab is a short-term immunisation which lasts for a few months and is usually given to provide protection throughout the flu season. Yearly injections are advisable for people at risk from flu or complications from flu.

Symptoms of chicken pox, although rarely serious, can be extremely uncomfortable for children and cause an extremely itchy rash, sickness, aches and pains and high temperatures and symptoms can last up to two weeks.

Vaccination against chicken pox is not routinely available on the NHS as usually once a child has had the illness, they develop immunity to it so are unlikely to get it again as children but may contract it again as adults in the form of shingles. It’s worth having your child immunised against chicken pox if you are worried about how they would cope with the symptoms of the virus.

The chicken pox vaccination is a ‘live’ vaccination, meaning that it contains a weakened form of the chicken pox virus. The vaccination works by stimulating the body’s immune system so it responds to the chicken pox virus, without causing the illness, by creating antibodies to protect the body from the disease.

Children are usually given the chicken pox vaccination at 12-18 months and 4-6 years. If your child is older than this and hasn’t yet had chicken pox or a vaccination then speak to one of our GPs about immunising them against the disease.

Protection from measles, mumps and rubella varies after the MMR injection with immunity against measles lasting approximately 30 years, rubella approximately 23 years and mumps approximately 19 years.