About The Vaccine

Vaccination has been available for over 60 years.
The vaccine certificate is valid from ten days after immunisation, for the life of the person vaccinated  – provided your immune system is normal and you are over 2 years age. 

The Yellow Fever vaccine can interfere with other vaccines so the scheduling must be planned accordingly.

Side Effects

Although this is a safe vaccine for most persons, the risks of vaccination are not zero.

Mild Side Effects

  • Most people will get a slight sore arm
  • 2-10% may feel tired, headache, muscle aches, fever for 24 hours starting 3-9 days after the vaccine
  • 1% need to curtail regular activities

More Serious Side Effects?

  • 1 in 130,000 will experience immediate hypersensitivity – rash, itching, fainting or even aggravating their asthma – this is why people vaccinated need to wait 15 minutes in the clinic after vaccination.
  • 1 per 400,000 doses. will develop very severe side effects; inflammation of  multiple organs e.g. brain, lungs, kidney, liver, spleen, skin, blood stream.

It is very concerning,  but we have to tell you that there are rare reports of people even dying from this vaccine. Usually, this is because an individual has a particular medical condition and was given the vaccine when their immune system was not capable of processing it.

Travellers over 65 years of age (and especially males over 65) need a detailed discussion with their travel doctor regarding the relative risk of side effects from the vaccine versus the risk of contracting Yellow Fever disease.

Most Common Questions