YELLOW FEVER VACCINE AVAILABILITY

GREAT NEWS . . . . .

YELLOW FEVER VACCINE IS ONCE AGAIN AVAILABLE IN OUR CLINIC !!!

On April 5, 2021 Sanofi-Pasteur, the sole U.S. manufacturer of the original Yellow Fever vaccine,     ‘YF-VAX’,  which is the only fully FDA licensed Yellow Fever vaccine manufactured in this country, for use in this country, once again began distributing this highly sought after life-saving vaccine.

Due to manufacturing plant problems starting in 2016, Sanofi entirely stopped making ‘YF-VAX’ in the summer of 2017. Since that time, the only yellow fever preventative vaccine available to U.S. citizens was ‘STAMARIL’, an interim, imported  YF vaccine produced in France. This foreign vaccine was available to U.S. citizens only on an FDA “expanded investigational use” basis.  Furthermore, this imported European version of the vaccine was available only in a very limited number of American vaccination clinics, and even there it was often in short supply and rationed.

Sanofi’s current return to full production of ‘YF-VAX’, and its’ upcoming widespread availability in this country, will come as great news for travelers going to many parts of Africa, Central and South America where Yellow Fever disease is endemic.  If travelers are not vaccinated to prevent yellow fever, this mosquito borne viral disease can lead to critical illness and even death in up to 60% of people who are bitten by an infected mosquito in those regions of the world.

You may call the Travel and Immunization Clinic at 913-469-0011 to schedule an appointment to receive a Yellow Fever vaccination if your travels will take you to any of the forty-two countries in tropical and subtropical areas of Africa and Central/South America where Yellow Fever has been declared a risk by the CDC and the World Health Organization.