The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, has said that the issuance of the yellow fever vaccination card will be centralised from Oct. 1.
He made this known at a dinner in Johannesburg organised by members of the Nigerian community in South Africa.
The minister said that only people vaccinated by health officials will be issued new yellow fever card which would be printed solely by the federal ministry of health.
“Nigeria is one of the 44 countries that is prone to the spread of yellow fever, with some of the countries around us
having reported cases of outbreak of the fever.
“Yellow fever does not exist in Nigeria, the last incident of yellow fever was recorded in Jos in 1995, but `countries
such as Cameroon and Ghana still have reported cases of yellow fever outbreak.
“With some of our neighbouring countries having it, even as Nigeria is not endemic but also has the vector of yellow fever,so we remain at risk.’’
Chukwu said it is important for Nigerians travelling to other countries that have the vector to ensure that they are vaccinated before travelling to such countries.
“The reason why the U.S. and U.K did not require vaccination is because no vector exists in that country.
“But when going to countries that are no longer endemic but still have the vector such as South Africa they expect that you must be vaccinated,’’ Chukwu said.
He said there is no sensor on the one in a life time vaccination.
