HEALTH NEWS: New Yellow Card Officially Comes Into Use says Minister

According to Leadership, Nigeria formally brought into use an updated certificate for yellow fever vaccination (yellow fever) yesterday in Abuja.



Flagging off the official distribution yesterday in Abuja, the minister of health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu, cautioned Nigerians to get updated with the new one so that they don't get embarrassed when they travel out of the country.



He said that the security-enhanced yellow fever cards had been in circulation for some time and so the old cards will no longer be valid by October.



The minister said that the new yellow fever card comes with at least seven enhanced security features, including special-security ink and stamp, owing to a row between Nigeria and South Africa last year over the authenticity of yellow cards issued to travellers from Nigeria.



Chukwu said that easy access to the old N500 cards was "part of the confusion" leading to the diplomatic row with South Africa, which deported hundreds of Nigerians at the height of the yellow fever card impasse.



A consultant specialist in charge of port health services, Dr Sani Gwarzo, said, "No two offices have the same code. As soon as we see a yellow card, we see the code, we know from which office it comes from."



The new cards spell the end of decentralised printing and distribution of yellow fever cards by individual state governments and the private sector, which the National Council on Health permitted years ago in efforts to make the cards easily accessible to travellers.



Immunisation for yellow fever can also be accessed at its six international airports, nine seaports, 16 land borders, and new port health services offices opening up in all 36 states.



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