So, have you ever heard of yellow fever international vaccination certificate? Neither had I until I tried to come from Brazil to Roatan last month. And believe me, I found out the hard way. Picture this, you are three hours before your flight takes off at the airport with all your luggage, go through the whole line, documentation ready to check in...good so far... but as soon as you get at the counter to check in, someone asks for your yellow fever international vaccination certificate. Right! That's it!!! And no one warns you about it when you are booking your ticket online. Oh, I didn't have one so I couldn't board. When I thought it was bad, it got worse! As soon as I said I didn't have one, they told me first to take the shot as soon as possible because I would have to wait for 10 days to board. That's supposedly the time it takes to the yellow fever vaccination starts working on your immune system.
I went home that night devastaded and there was nothing I could do but taking the shot the following morning. And that's what I did, took the shot and rebooked my flight.
My piece of advice, take the yellow fever shot!!! More than 120 countries require the yellow fever international vaccination certificate card in order to allow you to get in the country and the list of countries is updated almost every month. In other words, the country you're planning to visit is not in the list this month, but it might be included in the next one. For example, you can't board from South America to any country in Central America or the Caribbean without one. After taking the shot, look for the local agency in your country which is in charge of the emission of the yellow fever international vaccination certificate. With that, you'll be good to go and enjoy your vacation!
Useful links:
- List of countries which yellow fever international vaccination certificate:
- For Brazilian citizens :
