Guys and girls.
Re vaccinations, you basically want to get every single thing that you can a) b is legal and c) your home country will give you.
Most of us have the standard DTP i.e diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough) and tetanus. I know every EU, US, ANZAC, etc country has those from childhood.
MMR (Measles, mumps, rubella) again standard for all Western children.
Typhoid, cholera, TB and HiB you should have had as a child wherever you are from.
Hepatitis A & B. C is only for blood workers many countries ONLY do A as standard ask specifically for the combined shot A & B to get both.
Pneumococcal, Meningococcal & Varicella vary country by country but EU recommend Meningococcal prophylaxis as Meningitis A, C, W & Y. Don't skimp and just get the AC or ACW.
If you haven't had Chicken Pox by the time you are an adult you want to get the Varicella done.
The must have is Yellow Fever don't forget the booster to make sure it is valid for 10 years.
The ones I haven't mentioned are:- Shingles only for older pilots like >60yrs old. Influenza (again country and age dependant) and last but not least Japanese Encephalitis (JE). Rabies well we all know it isn't really a vaccine it just delays the onset of symptoms until you get the real deal so useful if your in the jungle or half way up a mountain but pilot wise you only need it if you going outward bound on hols.
People often neglect the JE but the reality is some of the salubrious locations as mentioned by flydream mean you don't get it directly but can the insects or ticks carrying the thing arrive on the plane next to you on stand in somewhere like Colombo and you could be the lucky one/unlucky one.
I personally two of our pilots both British who have been hospitalised with Dengue fever.
Malaria is just pot luck as most of the drugs you need to be taking for almost a week before going and sometimes a week after coming back and we just don't spend long enough or even know when we are going to have that sort of prep. To that end just trying not to get bitten is the best solution.
NaTHNaC | Website Homepage is the British Reference
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention if you want it dumbed down
Get you, your spouse and your kids everything that they will give you under the sun. It simply is not worth it vaccinations save lives and you do not want to be ill out here unless you have to.
Personally, some of the places we go to have bad things, some of the places we go to are cross over airports/hubs for places with really bad things and we live in a place where 70% of the pax landing in DXB are going somewhere else so disease from all over the world comes does a 3/4 day layover with pax and crew mixes in our malls, hotels, restaurants etc.
Just ask anyone with kids what its like at the start of term when everyone returns to Dubai from all over the planet with the latest strain of lesser spotted lurgi!
Re joining dates. It is as alluded to in three posts below. When they want you they want you, when they don't they don't. Basically some pilots interview on DDay and start on D+45. Some have waited as long as 2 yrs to even get a start date.
It is not necessarily even in order of anything be that chronological, alphabetical, experience, country or origin. There is not rhyme and reason. It is just how they do business. Get used to it for those who have done Africa you will remember TIA. Well here delete A and insert ME to get TIME. If there is one thing they don't care about it is your time. You only matter when there are not enough pilots, you don't matter, your family doesn't matter and the quicker you get that the better life is here.
Good luck!
VT