My Vaccination Experience in the U.S.

By Erina Hamada, MED 2015 Participant

On August 3rd, I experienced something that no one else had in the program. After lunch, everyone went out for a campus tour of Stanford. However, I had to skip it because I needed an extra varicella shot to prepare for shadowing with Dr. Tsuyoshi Mitarai in the Stanford Emergency Medicine Department. At first, I thought I would go to the Stanford Hospital to get the shot, but the place Sherry took me to was a pharmacy.

I found several differences between the pharmacies in Japan and in the U.S. In Japan, we cannot get vaccinations in a pharmacy. We can only get vaccinated in the hospital. However, pharmacies in the U.S. are able to administer vaccination shots. Also, in Japan, only doctors or nurses can give vaccination shots. However, in the U.S., pharmacists are also able to give shots.

Also, the pharmacy was so huge! It felt like a large supermarket. It sells shampoos, cosmetics, snacks, household supplies, etc. We have similar drug stores in Japan, but it is much smaller.

It was really good to see differences in how people can receive medication between Japan and the U.S. during the first few days at Stanford. I felt lucky to have gotten such an experience!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *