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J Educ Health Promot
J Educ Health Promot
JEHP
J Edu Health Promot
Journal of Education and Health Promotion
2277-9531
2319-6440
Wolters Kluwer - Medknow India

JEHP-13-189
10.4103/jehp.jehp_165_24
Letter to Editor
Yellow fever vaccination: The growing demand
Bhattacharyya Himashree
Zaman Forhad A.
Agarwalla Rashmi
Department of Community and Family Medicine, AIIMS, Guwahati, Assam, India
Address for correspondence: Dr. Himashree Bhattacharyya, Department of Community and Family Medicine, AIIMS Guwahati, Changsari - 781 101, Assam, India. E-mail: himashreebhattacharyya@gmail.com
2024
05 7 2024
13 18925 1 2024
23 2 2024
04 4 2024
Copyright: © 2024 Journal of Education and Health Promotion
2024
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
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pmcTo The Editor,

Sir,

Through this letter, I would like to briefly highlight the growing importance and demand for yellow fever vaccination with the increasing movements of people across the globe.

Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected Aedes mosquitoes. The reason why it is called “yellow fever” is because of the jaundice that affects some patients. Up to 50% of persons who are severely affected may die from yellow fever without treatment. The virus is endemic in tropical areas of Africa and Latin America. There has been a surge of cases in the endemic regions in the recent past due to declining population immunity to infection, deforestation, urbanization, climate change, and man intruding into the sylvatic cycle where they get bitten by the wild mosquitoes carrying the virus.[1] A total of 281 cases were reported globally in 2022 with many cases going unreported.[2]

Though Asia and even for that matter India are not endemic for the disease, it has high potential to become one, as the vector mosquito for yellow fever Aedes eegypti is already present and the population is also vulnerable to infection. Therefore, people traveling to endemic areas of Africa and Latin America have to mandatorily take the yellow fever vaccination as a precaution to prevent the import of the disease to non-endemic countries. The Government of India has been following a strict yellow fever vaccination program to prevent the entry of yellow fever in India.[1] In compliance with the International Health Regulations 1969 and 2005,[3] India has been regularly screening all International passengers whereby any passenger who enters India or travels from India to any yellow fever endemic country should have a valid International Vaccination Card for yellow fever or they will be quarantined for 6 days or until the yellow fever vaccination becomes valid (whichever is earlier). The Directorate General of Health Services and the Ministry of Health have set up around 57 yellow fever vaccination centers across the country.[4] All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Guwahati, was given approval by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India for starting yellow fever vaccination. This is the only functional and authorized yellow fever vaccination center in the entire Northeast (NE) India and will cater to the population of the entire NE region. This clinic started functioning in September 2023. This is a great boon for people of the entire NE region of India comprising seven states as earlier these people had to take a long distance travel either to Kolkata or Delhi just to take the vaccine let alone the travel costs incurred in the process. This center has been receiving an overwhelming response as even people from neighboring countries such as Bhutan come to take the vaccine. The yellow fever vaccination card is issued to the beneficiary after the vaccination and has life-long validity. It is also important to note that if the vaccine is taken from an unauthorized/private center, then the vaccination certificate or document provided will not be accepted by the appropriate authorities. The establishment of this center has also created awareness among the public as earlier many people used to pay huge sums of money to unauthorized agencies to get the vaccines, which later created problems for them.

It should be borne in mind that there is no specific drug for yellow fever. Therefore, prevention is of crucial importance. The yellow fever vaccine is highly effective and has life-long validity. Therefore by taking just one shot of this vaccine, people at risk of exposure can protect themselves and also prevent importation of this disease from endemic to non-endemic countries. Vector surveillance and control measures specifically targeting the Aedes mosquito is another important strategy that vulnerable regions need to adopt. Also, it is important that airports and sea ports are kept free from the breeding of insect vectors over an area extending at least 400 m around their perimeters as per the guidelines.[5] Prompt detection of yellow fever and rapid response measures are essential for control of outbreaks in endemic regions. The WHO also recommends that every at-risk country should have at least one national laboratory where basic yellow fever blood tests can be performed. However, there remain crucial gaps in the implementation of control measures mainly because of ignorance of the common people regarding this disease, its prevention, and how to access the vaccine.[6] Therefore, educating the general public on this vaccine how to get this vaccine from an authorized center, and the process involved in it is important so that they do not fall into a trap due to ignorance.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgment

Nursing officers Mebarika Toi and Swapna Doley for providing all the support in the establishment and running of the vaccination center.
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1 Revised Guidelines for yellow fever vaccination DGHS. Government of India Available from: https://dghs.gov.in/WriteReadData/userfiles/file/Brief%20on%20Yellow%20Fever%20(including%20Guidelines%20for%20New. [Last accessed on 2024 Jan 18]
2 Immunization data WHO website Available from: https://immunizationdata.who.int/pages/incidence/yfever.html?CODE=Global&YEAR=. [Last accessed on 2024 Jan 22]
3 International Health Regulations WHO website Available from: https://www.who.int/health-topics/international-health-regulations#tab=tab_1. [Last accessed on 2023 Dec 18]
4 Central International Health Division Directorate General of Health Services Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. Government of India Available from: https://www.ihpoe.mohfw.gov.in/index.php. [Last accessed on 2023 Dec 12]
5 World Health Organization Bull WHO 1986 64 511 24 3490922
6 World Health Organization document Yellow fever Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/yellow-fever. [Last accessed on 2024 Jan 22]
