Any tips to get difficult to find vaccines?

[NikLR 13,220]

You cant just buy a vaccine either, it has to be administered by a medical professional.

She needs to check this out 

https://ru.usembassy.gov/visas/immigrant-visas/iv-medinfo/

The panel physician will have this vaccine for her at the medical.  If not they can exempt her.  

[Cenobite30 4]

9 minutes ago, NikLR said:

You cant just buy a vaccine either, it has to be administered by a medical professional.

She needs to check this out 

https://ru.usembassy.gov/visas/immigrant-visas/iv-medinfo/

The panel physician will have this vaccine for her at the medical.  If not they can exempt her.  

Thank you for the link. We checked it out earlier, as well as the USCIS policies on waivers based on non-availability. The problem (if I read this right) is that these guidelines seem to suggest that these exemptions are only granted if the CDC (or maybe the official clinic in Moscow?) has determined that these vaccines are not available. The problem in our case is that nobody seems to have made any official determination that the vaccine is not available, it's just....not available.

 

My fear is that, Russia being such a large country, they will tell her that some clinic in Siberia has plenty of chicken pox vaccines, so she is not exempted.

[AshMarty 359]

1. Your wife should be calling around for approved panel physicians, not just any hospital or clinics??

 

2. I am not sure what the chickenpox aka the varicella virus might be referred as in Russia (Chickenpox is a lingo type name in the US for the virus). I am 34 years old and more often than not my generation has had chickenpox when they were young because vaccinations were not a thing when we were children in the US and it is very contagious. I have to verbally tell the MD/Nurse I have chickenpox was I was 5 years old.  I would talk to your wife and see if there is more common name that it could have been referred to as in Russia. I know in the US most people know if they have had chicken pox when they were a child, it was almost a relief when it would happen because it means you were good from that point on from getting it again. 

Edited August 9, 2018 by AshMarty

[Cenobite30 4]

1 minute ago, AshMarty said:

1. Your wife should be calling around for approved panel physicians, not just any hospital or clinics??

 

2. I am not sure what the chickenpox aka the varicella virus might be referred as in Russia (Chickenpox is a lingo type name in the US for the virus). I am 34 years old and more often than not my generation has had chicken pox when they were young because vaccinations were not a thing when we were children  is the US and it is very contagious. I have to verbally tell the MD/Nurse I have chickenpox was I was 5 years old.  I would talk to your wife and see if there is more common name that it could have been referred to as in Russia. I know in the US most people know if they have had chicken pox when they were a child, it was almost a relief when it would happen because it means you were good from that point on from getting it again. 

Thank you for your response. I think I might not have been clear earlier. She is calling around to all of the clinics and hospitals in her city because the panel physician in Moscow said that they do not have the vaccine. And all of them are telling her that they don't have it either. And she's definitely using the Russian term for it. 😄

 

Anyway, she has no memory of having it, and her mother isn't sure. We thought it would be a bad idea to tell the doctor that she doesn't know if she ever had it, and it would be a worse idea to lie, so that is why she is scrambling to find this vaccine.

 

I was just reading the CDC guidance on the issue. It seems to be saying that if the panel physician doesn't have the vaccine then they should either be directing people to where they can find it or marking on their forms that the vaccine is unavailable. This particular physician's office is doing neither. They are simply telling her that they don't have the vaccine but that she must either wait for them to get it (though they don't say when they will have it), or she must get it somewhere else before she comes in for her examination.

 

Shorter version: They say she needs it. They don't have it. They don't know when they will have it again. Because of that, they say she needs to get it somewhere else before they can complete her examination. They can't/won't say where/when she can get it. Every clinic in her city doesn't have it, and can't/won't say where/when she can get it. Quite the pickle.

[AshMarty 359]

22 minutes ago, Cenobite30 said:

Thank you for your response. I think I might not have been clear earlier. She is calling around to all of the clinics and hospitals in her city because the panel physician in Moscow said that they do not have the vaccine. And all of them are telling her that they don't have it either. And she's definitely using the Russian term for it. 😄

 

Anyway, she has no memory of having it, and her mother isn't sure. We thought it would be a bad idea to tell the doctor that she doesn't know if she ever had it, and it would be a worse idea to lie, so that is why she is scrambling to find this vaccine.

 

I was just reading the CDC guidance on the issue. It seems to be saying that if the panel physician doesn't have the vaccine then they should either be directing people to where they can find it or marking on their forms that the vaccine is unavailable. This particular physician's office is doing neither. They are simply telling her that they don't have the vaccine but that she must either wait for them to get it (though they don't say when they will have it), or she must get it somewhere else before she comes in for her examination.

 

Shorter version: They say she needs it. They don't have it. They don't know when they will have it again. Because of that, they say she needs to get it somewhere else before they can complete her examination. They can't/won't say where/when she can get it. Every clinic in her city doesn't have it, and can't/won't say where/when she can get it. Quite the pickle.

Sorry to hear about the situation. That sounds incredibly frustrating.

 

Hopefully you have some luck in locating the vaccine soon!

[NikLR 13,220]

The panel physician can exempt her from having the vaccine if they are unable to obtain it. She doesn't need to go searching for it.   It is expected that if the immigrant does not have proof of immunity before their medical that the panel physician for the US Federal Government, can provide what the immigrant needs.  

 

If she wants to search all over creation for it she can, that's your choice obviously. It's just a waste of time and energy. 

Edited August 9, 2018 by NikLR

[Cenobite30 4]

36 minutes ago, NikLR said:

The panel physician can exempt her from having the vaccine if they are unable to obtain it. She doesn't need to go searching for it.   It is expected that if the immigrant does not have proof of immunity before their medical that the panel physician for the US Federal Government, can provide what the immigrant needs.  

 

If she wants to search all over creation for it she can, that's your choice obviously. It's just a waste of time and energy. 

Obviously we'd rather save ourselves the hassle and not go searching for it. It's just that the panel physician didn't really state it that way. Maybe it was a temp on her first day. 😄

 

This leads me to another question. If a bureaucratic procedure says that someone (say, a doctor) can do something to help you but does not say that they must, will they do it? I guess we'll have to rely on the fair mindedness and good judgement of this particular doctor in Moscow to find out. 🤔

 

Thanks for your response.

[Paul & Marina 53]

Has she tried the kazan state medical university Hospital?

[Cenobite30 4]

1 minute ago, Paul & Marina said:

Has she tried the kazan state medical university Hospital?

I'm not sure. I'll have to ask her. But that seems like the sort of place that would have it.

 

Thank you for the suggestion.

[Echel0n 27]

Sorry I did not read all answers but since I just recently got this particular shot: varicella is not a chicken pox shot. Varicella is the virus responsible for it whereas the chicken pox shot is more common it does not help against the varicella virus. I know it was confusing for me too. The second thing is that there is a shortage of the varicella shots caused by the suppliers at the moment. Usually they order it from the supplier and get it within a day or two. This is not possible or was not possible at the moment. But the pharmacies might still have it. Here in germany I had to go to two different ones since they are not all connected. The second one had it and i was able to get my shot. However to get the vaccine you need a transcription here you can't just go there and buy it. Additionally since it's the living virus that you get with this vaccine it has to be kept cool at all times. So its hardly possible to get it on vacation and just bring it. So my tip: call all pharmacies in town and ask if they have it

[AshMarty 359]

5 hours ago, Echel0n said:

Sorry I did not read all answers but since I just recently got this particular shot: varicella is not a chicken pox shot. Varicella is the virus responsible for it whereas the chicken pox shot is more common it does not help against the varicella virus. I know it was confusing for me too. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickenpox 

 

Chickenpox is common lingo for the varicella virus. Just like having the stomach bug is common lingo for the Norovirus.

 

There is an older generation including myself that never received the vaccine in the US and just for got sick briefly with “chickenpox” and now have the antigens for immunity to the virus because of it. So people like myself don’t need the varicella vaccine. 

[Echel0n 27]

50 minutes ago, AshMarty said:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickenpox 

 

Chickenpox is common lingo for the varicella virus. Just like having the stomach bug is common lingo for the Norovirus.

 

There is an older generation including myself that never received the vaccine in the US and just for got sick briefly with “chickenpox” and now have the antigens for immunity to the virus because of it. So people like myself don’t need the varicella vaccine. 

You are right but i was talking about the vaccine. There are atleast according to my doctor 2 different possible vaccinations working against the resulting chickenpox. One is against herpes zoster and one against the varicella virus if i am not mistaken (but its like 4 weeks ago so 😄 ). Important is to get varicella even though its not recommended for adults in germany. I also had chickenpox in the past but since i have no intention of arguing about proof i still got the shots. But that's not helpful for the poster here. Point is there is no register of the stock of pharmacies. It might be available next door. You need to go to different ones and ask. For me it was actually next door and quite easy :-). Oh an additional fact - you need 2 shots with a waiting time in between of 4-6 weeks. So buying it in a different country and smuggling it is even more unrealistic.

[AshMarty 359]

14 minutes ago, Echel0n said:

You are right but i was talking about the vaccine. There are atleast according to my doctor 2 different possible vaccinations working against the resulting chickenpox. One is against herpes zoster and one against the varicella virus if i am not mistaken (but its like 4 weeks ago so 😄 ). Important is to get varicella even though its not recommended for adults in germany. I also had chickenpox in the past but since i have no intention of arguing about proof i still got the shots. But that's not helpful for the poster here. Point is there is no register of the stock of pharmacies. It might be available next door. You need to go to different ones and ask. For me it was actually next door and quite easy :-). Oh an additional fact - you need 2 shots with a waiting time in between of 4-6 weeks. So buying it in a different country and smuggling it is even more unrealistic.

I just wanted to make sure the information being shared is accurate, as to not confuse people. Herpes Zoster is commonly referred to as Shingles, not Chickenpox.

 

Shingles is when the dormant virus (from chickenpox, meaning you already had chickenpox) becomes re-activated (typically because of stress on the immune system) it clinically manifests in adults and with different symptoms then chickenpox. 

 

I want to make sure that people are accurately understanding the vaccine requirements because a little misinformation can make someone trying to learn the process even more confused.  

Edited August 10, 2018 by AshMarty

[PaddyGirl13 75]

I know the chickenpox vaccine is not on the list of scheduled vaccines in Ireland, so it's not beyond the realms of possibility that it's not stocked in a country that doesn't insist on it. My son and I both had had chickenpox as kids so it wasn't an issue for us. A verbal confirmation to the doctor sufficed.

[Cenobite30 4]

Thank you all for your help and suggestions. She just spoke to the panel physician again, and they said what many of you had been telling me: if they can't give her the vaccine, no big deal, they just say it is unavailable.

 

It sounds a little like my speculation was correct. Maybe the first person she spoke to at the panel physician's office really was a temp on their first day. 😄

 

Thank you all again. You have been very helpful.