How To Get A Yellow Fever Vaccine for Filipino Travelers

How To Get a Yellow Fever Vaccine with Card in Manila, Philippines

By DAN FORTEZA

Getting a Yellow Fever Vaccine Card was one of the precautions I took before going to South America a year ago.

This year, I will be visiting Africa and will be armed with the same vaccine I had since its validity is LIFETIME. Yep, you read it right. So if you also intend to visit the continents of South America and Africa, most likely you’ll be needing a Yellow Fever Vaccine.

Hi there! First of all, I am Daniel – a solo backpacker from the Philippines. If you don’t know my story yet, feel free to read this article where I talked about how I quit my job in order to travel. This article was also featured on TripZilla Philippines.

Also known as the International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis, the Yellow Fever Vaccine card is secured to protect both individual travelers and from the risk of importing or spreading the yellow fever virus.

How To Get a Yellow Fever Vaccine Card in the Philippines
My Yellow Fever Vaccine card | Dantravels.org

WHAT IS A YELLOW FEVER?

Mosquitoes are the primary carrier of this tropical viral disease. The “yellow” in the name refers to the jaundice that affects some patients. Symptoms of yellow fever include fever, headache, jaundice, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting, and fatigue.

The yellow fever virus is endemic in tropical areas of Africa and Central and South America.

Check out this site for the list of countries required and recommended to secure the yellow fever vaccine as of July 2019.

Take Colombia, for example:

From the snapshot above, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends getting a Yellow Fever Vaccine certificate prior to visiting Colombia.

WHO NEEDS THE YELLOW FEVER VACCINE?

1 – Travelers going to countries with risk for Yellow Fever Transmission
2 – Those seafarers required by their company to have the vaccination

NOTE: The yellow fever vaccine is said to be safe for people as young as 9 months of age.

WHERE CAN I GET THE YELLOW VACCINE?

One can get this vaccine including its yellow card (or Carte Jaune) in various Bureau of Quarantine Offices across the country. The procedure is very much the same as other offices.

For Filipinos living within NCR, you can only obtain this at the Bureau of Quarantine in Manila, Philippines.

Refer to the map below for the exact location.

Schedule: Monday to Friday (except holidays), 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM

HOW TO GET YOUR YELLOW FEVER VACCINE

1 – Upon arrival at the Bureau of Quarantine Office, approach the guard and log in your details in the logbook. The guard at the entrance will also hand over some forms for you to fill out. Fill them out completely.

Those are Data Form, Yellow Fever Questionnaire, and Waiver form.

2 – Proceed to the clinic and inform the nurse on duty of your transaction. You will then be interviewed by one of the quarantine officers regarding your health status.

3 – Submit the forms to the quarantine officer and he/she will administer the vaccination to you. After that, you will be given 5 minutes to observe yourself if there are allergic reactions to the vaccination.

4 – Proceed with payment at the cashier and claim the official receipt.

How much does the Yellow Fever Vaccine cost? It costs 1,500 PHP.

5 – Before your yellow card is printed, you will be asked to verify first the data according to your personal information.

6 – Finally, claim your Yellow Fever Vaccine card duly signed by the Medical Officer.

Note that the whole process can take 10 – 30 minutes. Sweet!

MY FINAL SAY

There you have it!

You see how easy it is to get your Yellow Fever Vaccine card (a.k.a. International Certificate of Vaccination)? Let me know how it went for you.

And as Desiderius Erasmus said, “Prevention is better than cure.” Because if we, as a traveler, don’t have this kind of protection when times get tough, basically we are screwed. So better to be safe than sorry, don’t you think?

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Jen Jen Bae

    Hi there,

    I just want to know the difference between the single dose and multi dose, I know it is quite simple by the names of it, but what I really want to know is that is there not much difference? Is it okay to have the multi dose instead of the single dose?

    1. dantravels

      Hi Jen Jen, I am sorry I cannot help you with your question. It’s better if you contact directly the Bureau of Quarantine in Manila. Here is the link to their contact us form.

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