Vaccinations

Yesterday was the start of my many doctor appointments to get ready for Madagascar!

The clinic here is free, so I set up a travel/vaccination appointment and had it yesterday afternoon. I walked in and while I was waiting I looked around at all of their brochures. The first thing I noticed was that they offer free tests for the 'love bug.' The 'love bug' is chlamydia. Then I saw that if you participate in this 'free test' you get FREE PANTS. Pants as in panties. They say "Kiss Me" and "I love you" all over them.  Is it just me, or is this a bit strange? I also learnt that in the UK 1 out of 3 women have an abortion up until the age of 45.  There were condoms, UTI bottles for urine, and chlamydia tests galore in this waiting room.

I then was escorted back and the nurse created a list of all of the vaccines I will need:
Hepatitis B  booster = 25GBP
Rabies X 3 = 126GBP
Yellow Fever X 1  = 50GBP
Hepatitis A X 1 plus a booster = Covered under NHS
Typhoid X 1 = Covered under NHS

She then gave me two shots (or jabs as they say here) and I couldn't move my arms all night.  This morning they are a bit better, but I have to go back in on Tuesday for the other 3 - YIKES!

I also discovered that all contraceptives are FREE here.

That was a summary of my first doctor's trip in the UK.