What is the most important information I should know about this vaccine?
Yellow fever vaccine is for use in adults and children who are at least 9 months old. The
vaccine is given every 10 years to people who are at risk of exposure to yellow fever. Your
individual booster schedule may be different from these guidelines. Follow your doctor's
instructions or the schedule recommended by your local health department or the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
You can still receive a vaccine if you have a cold or fever. In the case of a more severe
illness with a fever or any type of infection, wait until you get better before receiving this
vaccine.
You should not receive a booster vaccine if you had a
life-threatening allergic
reaction after the first shot.
Keep track of any and all side effects you have after receiving this vaccine. When you
receive a booster dose, you will need to tell the doctor if the previous shots caused any side
effects.
Becoming infected with yellow fever is much more dangerous to your health than
receiving the vaccine to protect against it. Like any medicine, this vaccine can cause side effects,
but the risk of serious side effects is extremely low.
What is yellow fever vaccine?
Yellow fever is a serious disease caused by the yellow fever virus. Yellow fever is spread
through the bite of an infected mosquito. It cannot be spread from person to person. Yellow fever
can cause fever and flu-like illness, jaundice (yellowing of the eyes and skin), liver failure,
respiratory failure, kidney failure, vomiting of blood, and possibly death. The yellow fever
vaccine exposes the individual to a small amount of the virus (or to a protein from the virus) and
causes the body to develop immunity to the disease.
Yellow fever is carried and spread by mosquitos.
The yellow fever vaccine is used to help prevent this disease in adults and children who
are at least 9 months old.
This vaccine works by exposing you to a small dose of the virus, which causes the body to
develop immunity to the disease. This vaccine will not treat an active infection that has already
developed in the body.
This vaccine is recommended for people who plan to live in or travel to areas where
yellow fever is known to exist, or where an epidemic has recently occurred. The vaccine should
also be given to people who will spend any amount of time in rural areas where yellow fever is
endemic, or those who are otherwise at high risk of coming into contact with the virus.
You should receive the vaccine and all booster doses at least 10 days prior to your arrival
in an area where you may be exposed to the virus.
This vaccine is also recommended for people who work in a research laboratory and may
be exposed to yellow fever virus through needle-stick accidents or inhalation of viral droplets in
the air.
Like any vaccine, the yellow fever vaccine may not provide protection from disease in
every person.
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