2016-Dec-12
Note: This article about "Yellow Fever Vaccination Injection in Qatar" might be outdated. Please cross check with other sources for latest information.
If you are planning a trip to Africa or South America, you will require a vaccination against Yellow Fever. When you take one, you will get an internationally recognized vaccination certificate and this is mostly asked at immigration counters while you are entering a country. This is especially important if you travel by road from one country to another (for example from Kenya to Tanzania). Sometimes it will be asked while you are coming back to your home country.
Yellow Fever vaccination is required at least 10 days before the trip. Once it is done, it is valid for 10 years or recently they say it's valid for lifetime.
In Qatar follow the below steps:
You must have a valid health card. The card will have a number denoting which health center you belong.
Call 107 call center and ask to book an appointment at your health center for a general doctor.
On the appointment day, arrive there half an hour before. Go to reception, show your health card, tell them that you have an appointment. They will make an entry in system and will give you a token number with doctor's room number.
Go to nurse station or triage area to get your height, weight, temperature measured.
Wait at the doctor's room till your token number is called. Tell doctor you need Yellow Fever vaccination as you are travelling to Africa. He will then order the injection through system. Also tell them you need anti malarial tablets. They might also suggest that you should take injections for Hepatitis A and Typhoid. Agree to it if you haven't taken those any time recently.
Go to the injection room and make sure that they have the vaccine and the required WHO card (World Health Organization International Certificate of Vaccination, a Yellow or Orange paper booklet). You will have to pay 10 QAR as fee for the booklet. They will then give you injections on the arms and then fill in the card. Make sure there is a signature and stamp of clinic on it and details are filled correctly.
Go to pharmacy and collect your anti malarial tablets. It will be free of charge.
Since this is not a routine job at the clinic, there can be a lot of confusion if staff are not familiar with this. You may inform them that this WHO card is required to come back to Qatar through immigration. Also expect to spend from 2 to 4 hours.
From Wikipedia:
Yellow fever is an acute viral disease. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains particularly in the back, and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In some people within a day of improving, the fever comes back, abdominal pain occurs, and liver damage begins causing yellow skin. If this occurs, the risk of bleeding and kidney problems is also increased.
The disease is caused by the yellow fever virus and is spread by the bite of an infected female mosquito. It infects only humans, other primates, and several species of mosquitoes. In cities, it is spread primarily by mosquitoes of the Aedes aegypti type. The virus is an RNA virus of the genus Flavivirus. The disease may be difficult to tell apart from other illnesses, especially in the early stages.To confirm a suspected case, blood sample testing with polymerase chain reaction is required.