CKS is no longer commissioned by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). NICE remains committed to providing a replacement service for CKS and is currently reviewing its options. In the meantime, although CKS content is now not being maintained, it still remains relevant and will continue to be made available. CKS content was generated under a programme of topic creation and update. To check if the topic you are viewing is current or out of date, please refer to the topic publication details by clicking on the 'How up-to-date is this topic?' link in the left hand menu on individual topic pages.
Immunizations - travel vaccinations - Management
When is yellow fever vaccination indicated?
- Yellow fever vaccination is only available from designated centres:
- For the location of yellow fever vaccination centres see the NaTHNaC website.
- The following groups should be immunized:
- Laboratory workers handling infected material.
- People aged 9 months or older who are travelling to countries that require an International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (ICVP) for entry.
- People aged 9 months or older who are travelling to, or living in, infected areas or countries in the yellow fever endemic zone, even if these countries do not require evidence of immunization on entry.
- Infants aged 6–9 months should only be immunized if the risk of yellow fever during travel is unavoidable; expert opinion should be sought in these situations.
- Infants under the age of 5 months should not be given yellow fever vaccine.
- For people over 60 years of age expert advice should be sought (increased risk of neurological adverse events).
Basis for recommendation
- These recommendations are based on expert opinion from the medical literature [NaTHNaC, 2005b; DH, 2006c].
- Although the risk is small, infants under 9 months are at a higher risk of vaccine-associated encephalitis, with the risk being inversely proportional to age.
© NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement