As you know, yellow fever immunization is a requirement for arrival into Nigeria, as for several other countries. A situation that caught my wife and I bit off guard was when we arrived into the Johannesburg International airport and, as we handed our passports to the controller, she asked for our vaccination cards and proof that we had current yellow fever vaccinations. The officials clearly were not going to hand back our passports until we showed them the cards. This surprised us, as we had traveled to South Africa many times before but had never been asked to present our vaccination cards. Fortunately, we happened to have them with us, so avoided the line-up and exorbitant cost of getting re-immunized at the airport. South Africa, and many other countries, require proof of yellow fever vaccination if you are coming from, or have passed through, a country listed as being an infected area. This explains why those coming from the USA, for example, are not asked for the vaccinations cards while travelers such as myself coming from Nigeria (a “Yellow Fever Epidemic Country”) are required to present proof of yellow fever vaccination.

See

• US Centers for Disease Control Yellow Fever Information for Travelers
• Summary of South Africa's policy

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