Comments on: Yellow fever alert

By: Tony

Tony — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 12:08:35 +0000

Excellent news, a nice Christmas present! But again, consulates seems to exist to make your life more difficult. Considering all you wanted to do is tourism in Brazil, it baffles me the consulate should be so obnoxious about the whole thing. Have a great vacation!

By: D McIntyre

D McIntyre — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:58:39 +0000

Tony
Just a note to thank you and update.
On the 23rd of Dec. after following your advice and sending the consulate a letter. But jumping thru all of their hoops also we received our visas without having to get the yellow fever shots. While this leaves me with some ill feelings about the Brazilian consulate it does accomplish our goal.
So looking forward to a great vacation Thanks again.

D. McIntyre

By: Tony

Tony — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:56:21 +0000

Hope you’ll get your visa soon. A sad story with a happy end – hopefully. Hope nobody else has to go through this. I’m glad I could help.

By: D McIntyre

D McIntyre — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 22:56:50 +0000

Thank you so much . We sent the consulate a copy of that website and the CDC site, also a note from the county health department saying for health reasons we should not have the shots. Also we had to enclose a note from ourselves saying we would not hold the consulate or Brazilian government responsible if we caught yellow fever. So far it appears that this will suffice but as yet no visa . So hopefully it is cleared up.Thank you again for the advice

By: Tony

Tony — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 23:39:40 +0000

How frustrating! I’m determined to help you with this, I’ve suffered at the hands of a Brazilian consulate (in Madrid) to the point where we nearly took them to court because of their blatant incompetence.

I have found a text on the Internet that should settle the discussion. It is from ANVISA, the Brazilian goverment’s FDA. It is an official source. Actually, it’s the ultimate responsible for deciding what is required from visitors to Brazil. The link is here: Certificado Internacional de Vacinação. I don’t know how good your Portuguese is, I’m selecting and translating the most important paragraph (the third one):

——————————–
O Certificado Internacional de Vacinação e Profilaxia (CIVP), válido contra a Febre Amarela passa a ser exigido, conforme Decreto nº 87, de 15 de abril de 1991, somente para entrada em território nacional de viajantes internacionais procedentes de áreas de ocorrência de Febre Amarela que apresente risco para disseminação internacional. No momento não há nenhuma área apresentando risco de disseminação internacional da doença e, à medida que for estabelecido tal risco, será amplamente divulgado.
——————————–

Basically, the certificate was only asked to passengers coming from countries where there was yellow fever, countries that were a potential threat to other countries. But, and this is fascinating, Anvisa states that right now there are no countries posing a threat of spreading yellow fever. From that I infer Anvisa is currently asking the certificate from nobody at all. They even state that if the risk should reappear, an alert would be issued.

Don’t know whether this will take you too far with the consulate, but if they don’t accept it you can definitely interpret it as pure bad faith on their side. Good luck!

By: D McIntyre

D McIntyre — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 21:55:27 +0000

Thank you for the reply unfortunately
I have tried all these and the Chicago consulate is completely unsympathetic and won’t change their mind.
Also according to the CDC website on yellow fever people over the age of 60 ( which both my wife and I are) have bad reactions in 1 out of every 40,000 to 50,000 doses and of those over 50% die so you can see our reluctance to take unneeded shots.
We tried talking to our travel agent, the expediting service, Carnival cruises besides the consulate and they all say each consulate can make their own rules. We think it is preposterous that any country would allow their consul to have this kind of autonomy. I guess we are stuck. We do thank you for your advice.

By: Tony

Tony — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 23:09:36 +0000

Hello. I can only describe the consulate's request as preposterous. At no time during the worse of the yellow fever epidemic last year were American citizens required to have a yellow fever vaccination certificate to enter the country. That continues to be the case. Perhaps you could redirect the folk at the consulate to their own government's website: vaccinations. Tell them also to check with Anvisa, the Brazilian's government body responsible for health issues.

By: D McIntyre

D McIntyre — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:55:11 +0000

We are traveling to Brazil in Feb of 09 on Carnival cruise Splendor ship. The Chicago Brazilian consulate is requiring my wife and I to get yellow fever shots or a doctors waiver to be granted a visa although our ship is only stopping in 4 ports that are not in the infected areas. The Brazilian Consolates don’t require this and our doctor won’t sign one in the form they require. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

By: Tony

Tony — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:42:38 +0000

Hi Balint. There have been no cases of yellow fever in Rio. Regarding dengue fever, I have an entry on the topic: Dengue fever epidemic in Rio. The situation is very serious and I would consider postponing the trip or at least avoiding the capital.

By: balint01

balint01 — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:33:15 +0000

Hi, do you have any information on the current state of the “rumoured” epidemic siutation in and around Rio de Janeiro? Just like Paul was mentioning, I also plan to travel to Rio in early May with my girlfriend and would like to have a clear picture about yellow fever and dengue fever situation around the city and the state of Rio de Janeiro.
Thanks in advance,
Balint