Fake Yellow Fever Vaccination Certificates being issued in Tanzania

YELLOW FEVER - AFRICA (07): TANZANIA************************************A ProMED-mail post<http://www.promedmail.org>ProMED-mail is a program of theInternational Society for Infectious Diseases<http://www.isid.org>Date: Tue 5 Feb 2013Source: All Africa [edited]<http://allafrica.com/stories/201302050087.html>Random authorization and issuance of yellow fever certificates hascome to the attention of the government, which has launched aninvestigation to nab perpetrators.The document, usually issued to travellers visiting foreign countriesafter being administered with vaccination against yellow fever, isreportedly being issued indiscriminately at Mnazi Mmoja and at theairport in Dar es Salaam, with bribes in return for the illegalservice.The deputy minister for health and social welfare, Dr Seif SuleimanRashid, informed legislators in Dodoma that those seeking shortcutsrisked health complications, and both legal and disciplinary measureswould be taken against those issuing certificates.The deputy minister was responding to a question by Haji Khatibu Kai,(MP for Micheweni [Civic United Front]) who demanded clarification onthe purpose of yellow fever vaccination for travellers and the needfor the government to hire and deploy more health officers at HorohoroBorder Post in Tanga Region, where some of the travellers cross theborder without being examined. There are only 2 officers in the area."[Inappropriate] issuance of yellow fever certificates is uncalled-forand cannot be tolerated. The society should refuse to run unnecessaryrisks because travelling out of the country without vaccination isdangerous to the traveller, who could contract the disease and spreadit to others back home," Dr Rashid explained.--communicated by:ProMED-mail<promed@promedmail.org>[Issuance of fake yellow fever vaccination cards, or of cards toindividuals who have not been vaccinated, is a cause for seriousconcern. The Tanzania health authorities are justified in crackingdown on this practice, as did Nigerian health officials in 2012 whensale of fake cards came to light. There are 2 serious risks associatedwith this practice. First, individuals going into yellow fever (YF)endemic areas are not protected against this serious disease with its30 per cent case fatality rate. Second, and perhaps more serious, isthe risk of YF virus infected individuals going to places where themosquito vector is present and starting new outbreaks in areas wherethe population has no immunity from immunization.Although ProMED-mail has not reported YF cases in Tanzania, YFoutbreaks have occurred in neighboring Kenya, where the virus occursin the forest (sylvan) cycle of transmission (see ProMED-mail archivenumber 20110504.1377 for a summary and related references).