The Yellow Fever conundrum

[jjs217]

I'm over 60, and had the YF vaccination this past September with no problems.  My husband and I were on Regent from Rio (Amazon) to Miami with a stop in St. Lucia this past December.  We were told by the cruise line St. Lucia would accept a waiver from your doctor, if your doctor did not think you should receive the vaccine.  Well - guess what?  While in route to St. Lucia, the authorities said they would not accept a waiver.  Many people who were relying on the waiver didn't get to go on their shore excursions and had to remain on the ship.  So, unless you do have some serious medical issue - it is good to have.

[chaunceyb]

Being over 60 years old we decided against the yellow fever vaccination due to possible complications. We went to Brazil on a cruise in January 2019 which stopped in Recife, Salvador and Rio De Jainero. Even though the CDC showed some Y.F. threat on the Western coast of Brazil, the locals there told us the Y.F. had pretty much left the cities we were in. We did cover up a little and used lots of repellent. Of course if we had gone into rain forest area we would have gotten the vaccine. We found that one needs to go to a "travel clinic" and back in 2018 there was a shortage of the vaccine due to production issues at one of their suppliers.

[Floridiana]

We got the yellow fever shots when we we were 65. No underlying illnesses, no side effects and we were not reading on cc. 😉 

We still covered up due to Dengue against which there are no medications nor vaccines. It is also mosquito born.

[2SailingNomads]

We got the shots a few years ago when we went to the Amazon, no side effects.  Better to be safe IMO.

[SKP946]

We both had ourYellow Fever shots when we went on safari inTanzania 16 months ago, with no ill effects (we are both in our early 70’s). 

We were pleased that we did as we had to show our Yellow Books at the bottom of the stairs from the plane, (that was parked way out on the apron) No YF stamp, straight back on the plane !

[Reef Knot]

Wow, tough on the ones with no certificate.

 

[SKP946]

53 minutes ago, Reef Knot said:

Wow, tough on the ones with no certificate.

 

 

Yes, we had no prior knowledge of this and we were so pleased that we had had all the shots.

It was fortunate that we hadn’t relied on the over 70 excuse, it wasn’t being accepted apparently.😳

 

BTW. I had the YF shot when I was 18 (over 50 years ago) but couldn’t find my Vaccination book,

my wife hadn’t  had it previously, so we both had all the shots, with no ill effects.

Edited February 10, 2020 by SKP946

[Hoyaheel]

22 hours ago, SKP946 said:

We both had ourYellow Fever shots when we went on safari inTanzania 16 months ago, with no ill effects (we are both in our early 70’s). 

We were pleased that we did as we had to show our Yellow Books at the bottom of the stairs from the plane, (that was parked way out on the apron) No YF stamp, straight back on the plane !

At JRO, if you don't have the YF certificate but want to enter Tanzania, they'll give you the shot in the airport. Same at the Kenya land border...in a tent.... 😉