Where Do You Need Yellow Fever Jabs Before Travelling To?

Yellow fever vaccinations and a certificate to prove it are needed before visiting many countries. This is not just a requirement in places where the disease is endemic, but in some nations where there are concerns about infections being imported.

If you are travelling overseas, you should always check which travel vaccinations you need to have before visiting. In some cases, you won’t need any, especially when visiting developed countries with advanced health systems. But it is vital to know before you go.

On the one hand, there are vaccines that It is advisable to take in certain countries. But there are others where it is mandatory and you will need certification as a condition of entry.

What Is Yellow Fever?

Yellow fever is a tropical disease spread by mosquitoes that bite during the daytime. The virus causes symptoms such as fever, muscular aches, headaches, nausea and vomiting. For the majority, the symptoms disappear after 3-4 days, but for the rest, the outlook is bad.

• Around 15 per cent of those infected go on to suffer severe symptoms such as high fever, organ failure, shock and jaundice (the last of these causes the skin to turn yellow, which is where the disease gets its name from).

• Severe case symptoms cause death in 50 per cent of patients within 7-10 days

• According to World Health Organization (WHO) figures, there are between 67,000 and 173,000 severe infections in Africa and the Americas each year, with between 31,000 and 82,000 deaths.

• The disease is difficult to treat, but vaccination, which we can provide, offers lifelong immunity with a high efficacy rate

The disease is endemic in the tropics, with the WHO currently classifying 27 African countries and 13 Latin American nations as being ‘high risk’.

What Countries Require Yellow Fever Certification Before You Can Enter?

It is common that in such countries, you will need to be vaccinated and have yellow fever certification with you when you enter, without which you could be denied entry.

Examples of such countries include:

• African nations such as Cameroon, Congo, Ghana, Kenya and Mali

• Panama in Central America

• South American countries including Brazil, Peru, Suriname and parts of Argentina

  
  

However, it is also worth noting which countries may require you to have the vaccine certification, even if they are not countries presently affected by the disease.

Yellow fever is not contagious, but this move prevents countries from having to treat imported cases, which can happen because the incubation period is 3-6 days after the mosquito bite.

This means that in these countries, you will still need your yellow fever certificate if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present, to show you are very unlikely to have caught it thanks to your vaccination.

These include (but are not limited to):

• ·       Australia, Fiji and New Caledonia in Oceania

• ·       Barbados, Jamaica and Curacao in the Caribbean

• ·       African countries such as Egypt, Namibia and South Africa

• ·       Middle Eastern nations like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman

• ·       South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

• ·       Far-eastern countries like China and the Philippines

• ·       Albania and Malta in Europe

In most cases, this is required for all travellers from affected countries either aged over nine months or over a year.

Whether you are only travelling to a country where yellow fever is a risk or going from there to somewhere else, getting vaccinated and a certificate is essential before you go.