Vaccinations for Beijing

Question

I'm travelling to Beijing on the 3rd of september.

Although China does not require any mandatory vaccinations to visit, It is recommended that I recieve a Hepatitis A vaccination.

I have less than 2 weeks until i go. Unfortunatly My local doctor does not have any travel vaccination appointments until the day before I go.

This means i have 2 choices, either i pay £50 (approx 80 USD) for a Hep A vaccination from a private travel clinic, or i skip the Hep A vaccination and hope for the best while i'm in Beijing.

How Prevalent is Hep A in China?

Is there a significant risk of Hep A in Beijing or is it only in rural parts of China?

Is it worth me getting a Hep A vaccination at all or can i get away without it.

Answer 1

Generally, Hep B is the more common disease in Asia, however that does not mean that there is a significantly lower risk for Hep A. A general overview of the various types of Hepatitis can be found at this link.

I have not found any recent epidemics published in China, however, they have happened in recent history (a paper discussing one in 1990 here (PDF)).

The International Healthcare Worker Safety Center recommends any workers in China get the vaccine due to its prevalence. The CDC (US organization) also recommends that "Travelers to countries where Hepatitis A is prevalent" get vaccinated, and China is one of the listed countries in Hepatitis taxonomy and risk. And the difference between an urban and rural setting doesn't really play into it as much as the prevalence of the disease itself. People are more and more mobile in China than before, and the person to person vectors become more possible in a city.

I would highly recommend that you get the vaccine. Stanford University thinks that China needs to institute a much larger Hep vaccination program as it is, for what that is worth.