UK: Bread, milk, polio jab ... All in a morning's shop

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2008/jul/27/healthandwellbeing.health

Bread, milk, polio jab ... All in a morning's shop

Tom Robbins

The Observer,

Sunday July 27 2008

Article history

Getting your travel injections and tablets could become easier and cheaper

thanks to a controversial pilot project launched last week. The supermarket

Sainsbury's is setting up travel clinics within 21 of its stores, allowing

shoppers to consult nurses for free and have injections carried out on the

spot. As well as offering free consultations, the supermarket claims it will

undercut existing travel clinics by around a third.

Last week, we checked some of the supermarket's prices against those in

specialist travel clinics and found it was significantly cheaper. A

three-injection course of Hepatitis A and B immunisations costs £150 at

Sainsbury's, for example, compared with a typical price of £195 at the

specialist clinics; a combined diptheria, tetanus and polio injection costs

£20 at the supermarket compared with £31; while 12 anti-malaria Malarone

tablets costs £27 at the supermarket, compared with £44.

'We will provide an efficient, good value one-stop-shop for people's travel

health needs - from a first aid kit to immunisations,' said Gilder,

head of professional services at Sainsbury's.

Sainsbury's is trialling the new clinics in stores within the M25, but if

successful will roll them out nationwide. Tesco last week said it had no

immediate plans to launch similar clinics, but 'wouldn't rule it out'.

However some medical professionals are voicing concerns, arguing travel

medical advice is too complicated to be sold alongside baked beans and

bananas.

'People often have the impression it's simply a case of looking up a chart and

seeing which vaccines are needed,' said Dawood, a specialist in travel

medicine at the Fleet Street Travel Clinic. 'But cases can be far more

complicated than that, plus we give people advice on how to behave while they're

away, what to do when things go wrong and so on. My worry is that travellers

will be sold the cheap vaccines, but won't get any health advice, support and

follow-up.'