Costco offers nearly everything you could ever need—$5 rotisserie chickens, industrial-sized vats of cooking oil, enormous toilet paper packages—but did you know you can not only get required vaccines for your next international trip here, but also save a bundle at the same time?
I’m heading to Bwindi Lodge in Uganda next month, but before my trip to see mountain gorillas, I needed both a tourist visa and a yellow fever vaccination.
I called a couple of pharmacies and travel-medicine clinics in my hometown, and nearly dropped my phone when I was told it would cost more than $430 for a consultation and shot. That’s when I learned about a relatively new program Costco offers their members that would potentially save me more than $150.
On Costco.com, you can pay $40 for a travel service consultation through a company called SafeGard. (You do need to be a Costco member to take advantage of the program; memberships start at $65 per year.) The process was fairly simple. I paid my fee, and later that day, I received an email with my log-in information for the website. I filled out an online form, detailing my travel plans and vaccine history, and in less than 24 hours, I was sent a personalized PDF suggesting a host of immunizations and medications, in addition to the yellow fever shot.
A few days later, I was on the phone with the pharmacist from my local Costco. She walked me through the PDF results and doubled down on a couple of suggestions, including anti-malaria medication and pills to relieve traveler’s diarrhea. I made an appointment the next day to get my shot at the Costco pharmacy. The cost would be around $280 for the yellow fever immunization, not counting the $40 I already paid SafeGard.
The next day at noon, I was at the pharmacy window. I spoke to the pharmacist assistant, who guided me through the instructions for both the anti-malaria and diarrhea pills. With my insurance, the cost was $27 and change for both medications. I was then taken to a back room, where the pharmacist gave me the yellow fever shot. She warned I might feel a little under the weather the next day (I didn’t) and advised me to hang around for 15 minutes to ensure I didn’t have a bad reaction.
Best of all, and much to my surprise, my insurance covered the yellow fever vaccination cost. In all, I forked over about $67 out of pocket, not counting the $1.50 I paid for my post-vaccination hot dog and soda.
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