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Updated Yellow Fever Certificate and Vaccination Recommendations WHO 2015

12 June 2015

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released updated recommendations for yellow fever vaccination and certificate requirements for 2015.

Main points of interest include:

  • Democratic Republic of Congo - areas with risk of transmission of yellow fever has increasd to now include the whole country. In May 2014, a yellow fever outbreak occurred in Katanga province in the southeast of the country.
  • Rwanda - WHO has downgraded the risk of yellow fever transmission in Rwanda and the country is now designated as low potential for yellow fever transmission and yellow fever vaccination is generally not recommended. See Rwanda country record for further information. Rwanda has been removed from the WHO list of countries With Risk of Yellow Fever Virus Transmission.
  • As a result of these changes, WHO has updated the Yellow Fever Vaccination Recommendations map for Africa. The Americas map is unchanged.
  • Burkina Faso - no longer has a mandatory certificate requirement for all travellers and has been removed from the Mandatory Yellow Fever Certificate Requirement list on TRAVAX.
  • Ghana - now has a mandatory certificate requirement for all travellers and has been added to the Mandatory Yellow Fever Certificate Requirement list on TRAVAX.

In addition to the updated recommendations, WHO has included individual country information on the validity of the International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (ICVP). This follows the declaration from WHO in May 2013, that the protection from yellow fever vaccination is considered to be lifelong for immunocompetent individuals.

At present, not all countries have stated their position on the validity of the ICVP, those who have, state either valid for 10 year or valid for life. Where this information is provided, it has been added to the yellow fever information on the individual country record on TRAVAX.

  • Practitioners should continue to fill in the ICVP as per normal practice, indicating 10 years validity (example).
  • Practitioners should not alter dates on ICVP’s issued more than 10 years previously.
  • Practitioners should take account of individual country requirements and traveller risk assessment, when deciding if a booster dose of yellow fever vaccine is recommended.

The country records on TRAVAX have been updated to reflect the WHO changes to yellow fever vaccination and certificate requirements.