Yellow fever vaccine: who needs it and when
Pick the country you arrive in and where you come from: the checker says whether the border asks for a certificate, what CDC advises and what the shot costs.
Yellow fever certificate for Ghana
Required
Certificate required for all arriving travelers (age limits in the country wording).
| CDC vaccine advice | Recommended (for the areas CDC lists) |
| Who must show a certificate | Every arriving traveler (age limits apply) |
| Valid from | 10 days after the shot, for life |
| Published price | $269 median, $226 to $360 |
Entry rules as CDC reports them on the destination page. A country can change its rule; the embassy has the last word.
Compiled by Radif Partners · Method and sources · CDC pages read October 24, 2026
The yellow fever vaccine is a single shot that protects for life for most people, and the certificate that proves it (the yellow International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis) becomes valid 10 days after the injection. Two separate questions decide whether a traveler needs it. The first is medical: CDC recommends the vaccine for travelers aged 9 months or more going to 26 countries as a whole and to listed areas of 16 others, almost all in tropical Africa and South America. The second is legal: 22 countries ask every arriving traveler for the certificate, and 96 more ask it only from people who come from a country with yellow fever risk, transits sometimes included. At the 9 US county health departments that publish a self-pay price, the shot costs $226 to $360, with a median of $269, before any visit fee.
Two rules that do not always agree
Yellow fever is a viral disease carried by mosquitoes in parts of Africa and South America. There is no treatment, which is why the vaccine matters, and why many countries guard their borders against it even where the disease does not exist. The result is two different reasons to get the shot. CDC's recommendation follows the virus: where it circulates, travelers should be protected. A country's entry requirement follows public health law: some countries ask every visitor for a certificate, others only those who arrive from a place where the virus circulates, so that an infected traveler cannot start an outbreak among local mosquitoes.
The two can point in opposite directions. Kenya is a country where CDC recommends the vaccine for most areas, but Kenya does not ask for a certificate from a traveler flying in from the United States. India is the reverse: CDC does not recommend the vaccine for India, but India asks for a certificate from anyone arriving from its list of yellow fever countries, and can isolate a traveler without one. Tanzania asks for it after a transit of more than 12 hours in a risk country. The checker above applies the rule of the arrival country to the country you come from; the trip checker on the home page does it stop by stop for a whole itinerary.
Same border, two routes
Yellow fever certificate for Tanzania
Required
| CDC vaccine advice | Generally not recommended, may be considered |
| Who must show a certificate | Travelers arriving from risk countries |
| Valid from | 10 days after the shot, for life |
| Published price | $269 median, $226 to $360 |
Where CDC recommends it
CDC recommends the vaccine for all travelers aged 9 months or older to 26 countries, including Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa, and Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana in South America. For 16 other countries the advice is limited to listed areas: the Amazon regions of Peru but not Lima, Cusco or Machu Picchu; much of Brazil, including Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Iguaçu Falls, but not Fortaleza or Recife; Kenya outside Nairobi and the former Coast and North Eastern provinces. The wording is long and precise, and each country page of this site quotes it in full.
Which borders ask for the certificate
22 countries ask every arriving traveler for a certificate: Angola, Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Colombia, Congo, Republic of the, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, French Guiana (France), Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda. Age limits differ, 9 months in most of them, 1 year in a few. The longer list is of countries that ask only travelers coming from a risk country; their own list of risk countries can differ from CDC's, and some count a long airport transit as a stay. A few, such as Costa Rica, Ecuador and Paraguay, name the exact countries they check. The border rules page has the full table.
Timing: the 10 day rule
The certificate is valid from the tenth day after vaccination. A traveler vaccinated eight days before landing in Ghana arrives with a certificate that is not yet valid, and the border can refuse entry or vaccinate on the spot. Under the International Health Regulations a completed certificate is valid for the lifetime of the traveler, so a person vaccinated once does not need a booster for a border. CDC still advises another dose for three groups: women who were pregnant at their first dose, people who had a stem cell transplant after it, and people who were living with HIV when they were last vaccinated.
Who should talk it over first
Yellow fever vaccine is a live vaccine. CDC asks clinicians to weigh risks and benefits carefully before a first dose at age 60 or older, because rare serious side effects are more common. It is contraindicated under 6 months of age, with a weakened immune system, a thymus disorder linked to abnormal immune function, or an allergy to eggs, chicken proteins or gelatin; pregnancy and breastfeeding call for a careful discussion, and sometimes a medical waiver instead of the shot. In the United States, only one vaccine (YF-VAX) is licensed, and it is given only at centers designated by state health departments, which is why many family practices do not offer it. Prices at the health departments that publish them range from $226 to $360; the price page compares them.