An expanding yellow fever outbreak has prompted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to strengthen its advice to Brazil-bound travelers.
“Be protected or don’t go,” Dr. Marty Cetron, director of global migration and quarantine at the CDC, said in a press call Friday, urging anyone planning a trip to the area to get vaccinated, but a worldwide shortage of yellow fever vaccines is compounding the issue.
The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department’s International Travel Clinic is the nearest site in the region now offering yellow fever vaccines. The next closest locations are in Knoxville, Nashville, Birmingham or Atlanta.
Michelle Donahoe, immunization program nurse manager for the health department, said running out of vaccines isn’t a concern, but travelers should call at least six weeks in advance to schedule an appointment and allow the vaccine time to become effective.
“If they’re going in the summer, now is the time for them to be coming in and getting their vaccines,” Donahoe said.