Shipment of Yellow Fever vaccines expected by month-end

Aug 06, 2016 News

Guyana is still awaiting a shipment of Yellow Fever vaccine to continue to meet its vaccination demand.
According Chief Medical Officer (CMO) (ag), Dr. Karen Gordon-Boyle, the Public Health Ministry expects the anticipated shipment to arrive by “mid to late August.”
She, however, asserted that the Ministry is continuing to find doses for nationals travelling to the continent of Africa who must be immunised against contracting Yellow Fever. A number of countries on the continent have reported outbreaks of Yellow Fever which prompted a number of countries in other continents to issue travel advisories.
An increased demand for the Yellow Fever vaccine has left the Ministry’s vaccination stock depleted. Aside from the stock available for those travelling to Africa, the only other doses available are those intended for young children who have never been immunised against Yellow Fever.
But according to Dr. Gordon-Boyle many persons may not currently have need for the vaccine if they would have been immunised as a child. In the past it was requested that persons be immunised every 10 years but according to the Acting CEO, based on the existing World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines “once you are vaccinated once, it is for life.”
Given the fact that Guyana is able to boast of a vibrant immunisation programme, which includes Yellow Fever vaccination, Dr. Gordon-Boyle is confident that “the dangers for us travelling is minimal.” She, however, considered that since an international travel certificate is required by a number of countries “it is causing unnecessary panic.”
“We have not had an outbreak and most of the Caribbean countries are vigilant with their vaccination programme,” emphasised Dr. Gordon-Boyle as she emphasised that Guyana been reaching out to a number of countries to relax their demands for the international travel certificate. Among the countries the Ministry has already been looking to for support in this regard is Trinidad, Jamaica and Suriname.
“Jamaica has already eased and we are hoping to get others to ease that burden for us too,” related the Acting CMO.
Among the persons who have been seeking the vaccine are people who have arrangements to travel to the United States and other countries that do not require persons to be vaccinated. But according to the Acting CMO, she had not heard of any reports of persons being turned away from countries such as the United States if they do not produce a travel certificate.
Countries such as the United States, Canada, Europe and Caribbean territories do not require persons travelling from Guyana to produce an international Yellow Fever certificate.
Outbreaks of Yellow Fever have been reported in Angola. There are reports of the disease spreading to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger, Nigeria, Mali, among others. Guyana and all of its neighbouring territories (Suriname, Brazil and Venezuela) have been listed as territories that have the ideal conditions to transmit the disease.
Yellow Fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected Aedes type mosquitoes. The yellow in the name refers to the jaundice that affects some patients. Symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, jaundice, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting and fatigues. According to WHO, a small portion of patients who contract the disease develop severe symptoms and approximately half of those die within seven to 10 days.

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