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Updated Yellow Fever Certificate Requirements for South Africa

03 Feb 2015

The Minister of Health for South Africa has announced that the requirement for a yellow fever (YF) vaccination certificate for travellers between Zambia and South Africa has been removed. This change came into effect on 31 January 2015.

The change to South Africa's certificate requirement follows an announcement at the World Health Assembly in Geneva on Friday 30th January 2015, where a review of the YF risk in northwest Zambia indicated reconsideration of the requirement for YF vaccination for travellers to and from Zambia.

Advice for Travellers

The WHO certificate requirements for South Africa are: 

A yellow fever vaccination certificate is required for travellers over 1 year of age arriving from countries with risk of yellow fever transmission, from Eritrea, Sao Tome and Principe, Somalia and Tanzania and for travellers having transited more than 12 hours through the airport of a country with risk of yellow fever transmission.

Travellers are advised to check the YF certificate requirement for all countries being visited/transited during travel.

Official notification by WHO of the change to the certificate requirement of South Africa and the risk of yellow fever in Zambia is awaited. Fitfortravel will be updated accordingly as further information becomes available.