How to get your Yellow Fever Vaccination

December 7 2019

Certain countries require you to show proof of having been vaccinated against Yellow Fever.

This post covers the details for obtaining your Yellow Fever vaccination in the UK.

Yellow fever is common in tropical and subtropical areas of South America and Africa. Worldwide, about 600 million people live in endemic areas. The WHO estimates 200,000 cases of disease and 30,000 deaths a year occur. Source Wikipedia.

* The Yellow Fever Vaccination is not available under the NHS.

To receive a Yellow Fever Vaccination you must visit a certified Yellow Fever Vaccination Clinic. Fortunately, the larger stores at Boots (the chemist) have their own Travel Clinic and some are able administer the Yellow Fever Vaccination.

Here is a PDF of the stores in the UK which can give you the vaccination (opens in a new tab).

The system for getting any of your travel vaccinations under the NHS on the UK has changed.

You cannot just rock up at your doctors and get a few free jabs. Firstly the nurse gives you the vaccinations but also that, you must go first to a Travel Clinic to discuss your travel plans and the pharmacist will then give you a list of the vaccinations that are recommended and the ones that are available free on the NHS, will be checked on another list which they will countersign and you then go and book an appointment with the nurse at your GP surgery.

It's complicated but it's done to relieve the pressure on the doctors.

I called up Boots, got an appointment and it just so happens that they are able to give the Yellow Fever Vaccinations.

Back in 2009, I was informed that the vaccine is valid for 10 years but in 2016 the WHO decided it was actually valid for life. So I could have just gotten a copy of my first certificate but the place where I had it done before isn't licensed to give the vaccine any more, so I just went for having a second jab. The price is £62.

Yellow fever begins after an incubation period of three to six days. Most cases only cause a mild infection with fever, headache, chills, back pain, fatigue, loss of appetite, muscle pain, nausea, and vomiting. In these cases, the infection lasts only three to four days.

Yellow fever virus is mainly transmitted through the bite of the yellow fever mosquito, but other mostly Aedes mosquitoes such as the tiger mosquito can also serve as a vector for this virus. Like other arboviruses, which are transmitted by mosquitoes, yellow fever virus is taken up by a female mosquito when it ingests the blood of an infected human or another primate. Viruses reach the stomach of the mosquito, and if the virus concentration is high enough, the virions can infect epithelial cells and replicate there. From there, they reach the haemocoel (the blood system of mosquitoes) and from there the salivary glands. When the mosquito next sucks blood, it injects its saliva into the wound, and the virus reaches the bloodstream of the bitten person. Source Wikipedia.

Why is it important to get the Yellow Fever Vaccination?

Well, aside from the health benefits from having the Yellow Fever Vaccination, a Yellow Fever Certificate is required to satisfy the immigration laws of certain countries.

When I was in The Gambia, applying for a visa for Sierra leone, I needed to provide a copy of my Yellow Fever certificate. I have been in 5 West African countries and this was the only time when I was asked to show it.

Vaccinated against Yellow Fever! Valid for a life-time.

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