China Health Guide: Which Vaccines to Get Back Home

It can be a bit unnerving coming to China – especially with young kids – and trying to figure out which vaccines you need to get while you're home. Here to demystify it all are three Family Medicine physicians from Beijing United Family Hospital (BJU). Themselves expats living in China, they have some great advice for those who want to make sure they have everything they need to thrive in the Middle Kingdom. 

Bringing us the German perspective is Dr. Reinhard Krippner, who used to be the German Embassy Clinic doctor. Here with the US angle is Dr. Lijun Liang, who was educated in China and trained in New York City. And finally, giving us the UK point of view is Dr. Andrew Perrett, our Cambridge-educated and highly experienced British doctor.

What's not readily available in China?

Combination vaccines

“In China, there are constant shortages of imported vaccines, and the Chinese-made vaccinations are limited in their combinations,” says Dr. Krippner, explaining that the more diseases you can cover in one vaccine, the fewer injections you need, and the better the result, especially for children. "In Europe, we have the five-in-one and the six-in-one vaccines. Quite a number of these don’t exist in China, and there is a distrust of Chinese vaccinations because of previous scandals. Now, there’s a shortage of the five-in-one, which is imported, and, from what we’ve been told, the Chinese Center for Disease Control doesn’t know when this shortage will end,” he says.

So, if you’d like to follow a typical Western vaccination schedule with as few vaccinations as possible using all Western-made medications, Dr. Krippner suggests getting as many vaccines as possible back home. “Of course, when your child is born in China, you have no choice,” he adds, “but any follow-up vaccinations that you can plan, it’s best to do them back home.” 

Rotavirus

If you do have a child in China and they get their first vaccinations here, do keep in mind that they may need additional vaccines in the West in order to get a Western standard of immunity. “In China, we don’t have the rotavirus vaccine, which we would usually vaccinate at six weeks of life,” says Dr. Krippner, so ask your doctor about this when you take your baby home.

Typhoid

The list doesn't end at the rotavirus vaccine. “Living in Beijing, typhoid is not a very big risk. It’s only if you’re living in or traveling to very remote areas,” says Dr. Liang. “We don’t have that vaccine because China hasn’t approved it yet and China doesn’t make their own.” She adds that you need to get a booster shot every three years to maintain immunity. Dr. Perrett explains that it’s possible to get an injectable typhoid vaccine in other Asian cities, but that the oral version is rarely available.

Tetanus

Dr. Liang adds that tetanus is also not available here because of importing issues, and so children should get vaccinated before coming to China and adults should get a booster shot every 10 years when they go back home.

HPV

“With HPV, China is still behind, but at least we now have something to offer,” says Dr. Liang, referring to the newly approved Cervarix and Gardasil vaccines, which can immunize women against two and four strains of HPV respectively. Cervarix is now available at BJU and Gardasil will be available in the coming weeks, but China has yet to approve the more comprehensive HPV vaccine Gardasil 9, which protects against nine strains of the disease.

Others

To this list of vaccines that are unavailable in China, Dr. Perrett adds the meningococcal ACWY conjugate vaccine and other regional vaccines (like tick-borne encephalitis in Europe). 

What new vaccines should you get before coming to China?

Japanese encephalitis, hepatitis A, and hepatitis B

The reason some vaccines aren’t available in China is because some diseases just aren’t such an issue here. But, conversely, there are certain diseases that do exist in China that Western vaccination schedules may not account for. “That includes Japanese encephalitis," says Dr. Krippner. "The disease is now rather rare comparatively, but that’s because every Chinese child is vaccinated. If all Chinese children are vaccinated, it means it’s still an issue,” Dr. Krippner cautions. He also recommends getting vaccinated against hepatitis A and B if you haven't already gotten these shots. 

Dr. Reinhard Krippner is a German Family Medicine physician at the United Family Liangma Clinic. He speaks German, English, Spanish, French, Mandarin, and Indonesian. To make an appointment with him, please call the BJU Service Center at 4008-919191.

Dr. Lijun Liang is an American Family Medicine physician at Beijing United Family Hospital. She speaks English and Mandarin. To make an appointment with her, please call the BJU Service Center at 4008-919191.

Dr. Andrew Perrett is a British Family Medicine physician at Beijing United Family Hospital. He speaks English and Mandarin. To make an appointment with him, please call the BJU Service Center at 4008-919191.

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