Does the NHI pay for it? According to my Doctor they don’t and they are pretty pricey … need multiple injections … totaling about 5,400NT$ over several months :s
I had to pay for mine myself (3 injections over 6 months), but the total was nowhere near that much. I cannot remember how much it was as it was several years ago, but I know if it had been that high I would have remembered. I am guessing 400-1000 each shot, but that is based on vague memory from over 5 years ago.
I also had to pay for the antibody blood test afterward (to prove that it had “taken”, which I needed for a program I was applying to) - that was a bit more - maybe $800, but don’t take my word on the numbers. DO take my word that I paid for the injections, but still used my health card to pay for the doctor’s visit.
If you live in Taiwan, you should get vaccinated for both. Don’t even think about the cost, because A) it’s not that much, and B) liver cancer sucks, is incurable, and is invariably fatal.
Do you recommend the Hep B vaccine simply because it’s available? I’ve only briefly researched this topic but my understanding is that you need to exchanging significant fluids with someone to get it. Whereas Hep A is much easier to catch (the cook contaminates food, you touch a contaminated surface and then eat w/o washing, etc…). And I thought there was a cheaper or easier vaccine (IIRC an oral vaccine vs injection) for only Hep A. But the expensive one is Hep B (which also contains the A vaccine).
Maybe I’m totally wrong on about Hep A/B and the vaccines. But I am under the impression that you should get the vaccine for Hep A definitely whereas the Hep B is more of a nice to have (or unless you’re putting yourself in a high risk group).
also on the topic of HepA/B injections, does anyone know if these can be done at local clinics or do you need to go to a hospital to get them? cheers!
Local clinic is where I got mine.
As far as Hep B and bodily fluids goes, same for Hep C.
I have a close friend here who has Hep C and has NO IDEA how she got it. That is pretty scary. She leads a very, very clean life. No partners, no drugs, etc. I have seen 2 people go through interferon treatment, and it is not at all pretty or pleasant.
So, if there were a vaccine for Hep C, I would take that, too. You never know. It is not that uncommon.
I’d take the one for cancer as well, if only I could.
Ah well, more vegetables, I guess.
On sort of the same topic. Do native Taiwanese living abroad need to take the shots before going back for vacation? Or are they vaccinated as kids? My wife doesn’t know 
Hep A is viral and food-borne, you’ll catch it from badly cooked shellfish and clams, etc… i.e., just the way they serve oysters and clams here. Hep A is a disease that usually has only a limited time course and is recoverable.
Hep B is also viral, and is a lot harder to catch. It was thought that it required blood-blood transmission, but seeing as 15-20% of Taiwanese adults are carriers, there must wither be some other way to transmit it, or hygiene must be a real issue among Taiwanese (and Chinese, too). 60% of carriers will develop liver cancer, which is one of the more scary forms of cancer with no treatment available. In fact, liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma) was the first cancer unequivocally shown to have a viral origin, by an American called Beasley working in Taiwan in the 1970s.
Many Hep B carriers are asymptomatic until they develop cirrhosis. most but not all initial infections show some signs of liver infection and inflammation (jaundice, itchy skin, rash, tiredness, liver pain) but about half go on to be chronic carriers. Some do not recover from the initial infection and end up with a nasty condition called fulminant hepatitis, which can quickly lead to death and serious brain damage. Patients with cirrhosis will generally go on to develop cancer.
Taiwanwas the first country to develop and introduce a national HepB vaccination program. the introduction of a Hep B vaccine has been a stunning successin reducing infant and child rates of liver cancer, from 0.54 per 100,000 annually in the 70s to about 0.13 per 100,000 for those born in the 1980s. Another studysays “Studies on the secular trend of liver disease risk also documented a 68% decline in mortality from fulminant hepatitis in infants and a 75% decrease in the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma in children 6–9 years of age after the national vaccination program began.”
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I went to the doctor today to get my HepA/B vaccine and info.
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I was a little disappointed that he thought Hep A vaccine was not important unless you were traveling somewhere Africa (I didn’t know that HepA was recoverable as mentioned above though). not sure if he’s right about it only being important in less developed countries or if this is just a case of Taiwan denial. He also thought the Hep B vaccine was not that important because Taiwanese are vaccinated for it. I didn’t really feel like debating so I just told him I wanted both vaccines.
Costs at Chung-Ho hospital (central kaohsiung)
Hep A only - 2 shots @ 1000 each plus 495NT in other costs each time
Hep B only - 3 shots (6 months) @ 400NT each plus 495NT in other costs each time
Hep A + B - 3 shots (6 months) @ 1200NT (was actually 1261 when I got my bill) each plus 495NT each time
These are the costs with Health Insurance. It doesn’t cover any any of the vaccine but it reduces the ‘other costs’. the other costs were - registration fee - 150NT, diagnosis fee - 250NT, nursing treatment 34NT. I don’t really understand why you need to pay a diagnosis fee each time but oh well.
I got these shots while still a student at my university in the US. I think the health center there gave the shots very cheaply.
Here in Taiwan, if you want to avoid the registration fees and other fees that may be associated with a visit to the doctor or hospital, you can try your local public health clinic (called wei4sheng1suo3 衛生所). They will usually give you the shots and charge you for the cost of the shot only. In other words, none of the extra registration fees.
However, unless you’re really on a budget or live close to the public health clinic, I think a local private clinic is a lot more convenient and not too much more expensive. A hospital would probably be a little more expensive than a private clinic, but I could be wrong.
I agree with urodacus that you should get vaccinated no matter what. Taiwan has a very high percentage of the population carrying Hepatitis B.
That’s around the same what my GF and I paid for each of the 3 necessary combined “Twinrix” A+B Vaccination. Not everyone has this, but both the Adventist Hospital as well as the NTUH have it.
Attitudes like this make competent doctors here cringe.
My experience here between different doctors is so stark, it is hard to believe they are even trained in the same profession. The bolded part is particularly irritating. As far as Hep A, well, the antibody (and thus exposure) is prevalent in Taiwan. There was even an outbreak in Vancouver, BC, Canada the year I moved here. Vancouver doesn’t even show up on this map, but notice Taiwan is rated HIGH prevalence. Hm.
wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/ … tis-a.aspx
So in reading up about a little more it sounds like the Hep A symptoms get worse as you get older (maybe similar to the chicken pox). So if most Taiwanese get it as kids then they get a little sick and then they get better. But i’m guessing the 30+ yr olds might get miserably sick for an extended period of time. And his experience might mostly be with younger patients (it was a family medicine doctor) and it’s not that big of a deal. But overall unimpressed with the ‘advice’.
[quote=“urodacus”]Taiwanwas the first country to develop and introduce a national HepB vaccination program.[/quote]Ok. So that means my wife is covered. What about Hep A. Should she get a shot? We haven’t been back for two years if that matters.
getting just one shot is not very effective, the regular vaccination course usually has three injections spaced over six months or so.
if it has been a long time since the Hep B shots, then a single booster shot should restore complete immunity (if it’s the same type of vaccine as was used before. if it’s a different type, then you’d need to do the whole course.)
may as well get the combined A+B series if you’re going to bother getting just one of them.
The vaccination thinking here is retarded. You can’t get a typhoid shot because it’s not a problem in Taiwan. No kidding, doc, but I’m travelling outside Taiwan. And I may bring it back.
Anyway, when I went to Tibet I had to fly to HK first and get the vaccination. Damn most expensive innoculation ever.
As for Hep A I had it in my mid-20s. It is not a mild disease as it is usually painted. A month in bed followed by months in a very weak state followed by recurring ear and throat infections, night sweats, general feelings of malaise for the next 3 years. It took me over 3 years to feel like I was back to normal.
The only good thing now is that I can’t ever get it again.
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Just got vaccinated for Hep A and B, one shot in each arm. Ouch.
Hep B shot is the one people usually have a reaction to, but in my case, it was the opposite: the one beating like a bird’s heart is Hep A’s site. Nothing really troublesome, actually, and after the reaction to MMR, I was quite worried, but the doc said this vaccine is made of dead virus so teh reaction is not as strong as the MMR -which has live ones. 
The nurse said something interesting: that in some people, the immunity does not catch or require several shots to develop. Or it fades before its span. Hope that’s not me.
I need to clear up what urodacus said.
60% of HepB carriers DO NOT develop liver cancer. Untreated about 20-25% do. 30-40% males, 10-15% females, gender makes a huge difference with HepB, so take that into consideration. Liver cancer tends to develope late in life. ( 55-70yr old ), but sometimes in the 40’s. It has a high mortality rate, but sometimes curable if caught early. 90% of adults who are infected with HepB will clear the infection within 6 months. Interferon is not the typical treatment for HepB, there are far more tolerable treatments but they need to be take for years, possibly lifelong is some people.
Also, HepB is transmitted exactly the same way HIV is, but is much more infectous. Casual contact is not a worry.
I’m interested in learning more about this as someone I know has Hep B.
When you say “untreated”, do you mean a Hep B carrier going untreated? What is the typical treatment for a carrier? Maybe I don’t understand what the term carrier means. I’m also having trouble understanding how the second sentence quoted above relates to the first sentence. If you can clarify, I’d appreciate it greatly.
Oh, froggers, big boo boo.
I was checking last year’s calendar before throwing it away. Seems I forgot to get the third and last shot for the hepatitis thinghy. It was scheduled for November…
Rats and double rats. First thing they tell you…
What now?