If you are going to be travelling to a country where there is a risk of catching yellow fever, this advice should come in handy.
If you have already had a yellow fever vaccination, find out if you need another one
In most circumstances, getting one yellow fever vaccination will provide a person with lifelong immunity to this disease. As such, if you have already had this vaccination, you might assume that you can proceed with your travel plans without having to visit your doctor to get this injection.
However, you should still have a discussion with your GP about this issue, as there are rare situations in which it is necessary for those who have already had this vaccination to get it a second time. For example, if you received this vaccination when you were a baby or when you had a condition that caused you to be immunocompromised, then it is possible that your first vaccination did not provide you with lifelong immunity against yellow fever. If your doctor believes this to be the case, then they might advise you to get a second dose of this vaccination, as a precaution. Having this discussion, instead of assuming that your first vaccination was fully effective, will mean that your travels won't be ruined by you unexpectedly developing yellow fever.
Get the vaccination a month or two before your travels begin
Most health organisations recommend that people get their yellow fever vaccinations at least a couple of weeks prior to their travels. However, if you need this vaccination, you should aim to get it long before this (such as a month or two before the date you'll be setting off). The reason for this is as follows: like all vaccinations, the yellow fever one can cause some temporary side-effects. These may include a high temperature, a headache and muscle pain.
These side-effects rarely last more than a couple of weeks. However, if you get the vaccine two weeks before your trip and you experience these side-effects, then you'll spend these last two weeks (the period during which you may have planned to do most of your packing and itinerary planning) feeling unwell and unable to do much at all. This might result in you not being as prepared for your travels as you wanted to be. If however, you get the vaccination a month or two beforehand and you happen to experience a few side-effects, these will be long gone by the time you need to start packing and fine-tuning your itinerary.
