Pedi Corner

A young mom is excited that she’s traveling to Nigeria with her 6 month old son so she brought him to your clinic inquiring of what immunizations you can give the child to protect him. She tells you that he’s current with all his childhood immunizations.
What immunizations/medicines will this child need if any to protect him from some of the tropical diseases?

Pedi Corner (Answer)

MMR is administered at age 12 months, but according to CDC it is recommended to give one dose of MMR vaccine to infants 6 months – 11 months before international travel. Note that this dose will not count in the childs routine vaccination series. He will still need his 2 doses of MMR at age 12-15 months and his final (3rd) dose still will be at 4-6 years before he starts Pre-K (CDC.gov 2017, CDC 2017)

Malaria prophylaxis
Mefloquine 5 mg/kg po q week 2-3 weeks before travel and d/c 4 weeks after return to USA. (Epocrates online)