Vaccinations for travel abroad

I was diagnosised with severe UC in 2010 and didn't respond to any meds including remicade.  I had to have emergency surgery and have my entire colon removed and a ileostomy and later that year reversed into j-pouch surgery.  I was very ill the entire year.

This year I am going to the Dominican Republic with my daughter for 13 days.  My mother thinks I should take as many vaccinations as possible.  The US state dept is not requiring anything for DR.  I took the flu shot earlier this year. I've asked my doctors if they think considering my health and low immune system if I should take those vaccinations.  They don't seem to have one opinion or the other just that I follow whatever the State Dept requires.

For those of you who have traveled abroad, did the vaccinations do anything for or against your health?  Do you feel you were better off taking the vaccinations for malaria, yellow fever, etc? Or what?

Thanks.

We are in Canada and my 18 yr old son went to Mexico last month for a week, we contacted the Travel Clinic and they had my son come in to get the appropriate shots he needed for his trip....they gave him a flu shot, tetanus shot (even though he had one with in the last 4 yrs) and Hepatitis A, as all the rest of the required vaccines needed he already had from school and when he was a baby.

Before UC kicked me in the gut, I regularly spent time traveling about the world, especially in Asia. The only time I bothered to get inoculated was back in the 1980's before a sojourn to Sri Lanka. Even then I don't think it was really necessary.

Savvy travelers can save themselves a lot of grief by observing a few common sense rules: Unless you are in a nation with hygienic standards similar to Singapore or Tokyo, don't drink the water, don't ask for ice in your drinks, don't brush your teeth in tap water, don't eat raw food unless it is a fruit you peel yourself, and make sure everything else you eat well cooked, especially seafood. The only times I ended up with the tummy runs was from bad water in Mexico (it was so bad that after 45 years it seems like yesterday), and from eating badly prepared 'chitlins' from a night market in Malaysia.

My primary concern when traveling is disease carried by mosquitoes. There are a few medications available to prevent Malaria, but proper preparation and protection can render these unnecessary. People just need to remember they are not hanging about the beaches back home and to cover up and apply insect repellent.

I don't have a lot of faith is the U.S. State Department, but in this case they are likely on target by stating no special vaccinations are needed. Just be cautious and you should be perfectly OK.

In a word, yes.

The caveat: If you are currently taking immunosuppresive medication such as Imuran or 6-mp, you should not receive live attenuated vaccines. Make sure you are getting a killed or subunit vaccine.

Now, you don't list your medications or the shots they require. If you want to go over these, I'm a doctoral student in microbiology and immunology and have a considerable background in vaccines, so I could probably give you an idea of how safe the vaccines are or about the diseases they prevent.