Entry vaccines · CDC + WHO sourced
Vaccination Required by Country
Look up what you legally need for entry, what CDC recommends, and how much time you have before departure.
Check your destination
Required for entry vs CDC-recommended — sample destinations (read from this tool's dataset)
For most international trips the only vaccine a country can legally demand to let you in is yellow fever — and even that is conditional. Under the International Health Regulations a destination may require proof of yellow fever vaccination only from travellers arriving from one of the ~40 countries the WHO lists as having transmission risk; it cannot lawfully demand any other vaccine at the border. Everything else your doctor names — hepatitis A, typhoid, routine boosters — is recommended for protection, not a condition of entry. The proof is the yellow card (ICVP); since the 2016 amendment to IHR Annex 7 a single dose is valid for life, with no 10-year booster, and the minimum age is 9 months.
| Destination | Required for entry | CDC-recommended (not mandatory) |
|---|---|---|
| Kenya | Yellow fever — only if arriving from a risk country | Hepatitis A, typhoid, seasonal influenza |
| Peru | None | Hepatitis A, typhoid, Tdap, yellow fever (Amazon regions) |
| Japan | None | Routine vaccines only; Japanese encephalitis for long rural stays |
"Only if arriving from a risk country" means the requirement is triggered by your travel history, not by the destination alone — a direct flight from a non-risk country usually clears it. The calculator below applies that logic to your exact route, transit and traveller profile, and flags live-vaccine contraindications for pregnancy or immunocompromise.
Last updated: 2026-06-12 · Yellow fever entry rules verified: 2026-06-11 against: WHO — Countries with risk of yellow fever transmission and countries requiring vaccination (November 2022) · CDC Yellow Book 2024 — Yellow fever vaccine & malaria prevention by country · WHO — Yellow fever (single-dose lifelong validity, IHR Annex 7)
Worked examples
Three concrete trips you can reproduce in the lookup above. "Required" means a border condition; "recommended" is clinical protection only.
Madrid → Nairobi (Kenya), direct, two-week safari
Kenya only requires yellow fever proof from travellers arriving from a risk country. A direct flight from Spain — which is not on the WHO risk list — does not trigger the requirement, so nothing is legally required to enter. CDC still recommends hepatitis A, typhoid and, given the safari, considering rabies pre-exposure for animal contact. The lookup returns an empty "Required for entry" column and populates "Recommended for protection".
Lima (Peru), city break, traveller is pregnant
Peru requires no vaccine to enter. CDC recommends yellow fever only for the Amazon basin (Loreto, Madre de Dios), not Lima or the coast. Because yellow fever is a live vaccine contraindicated in pregnancy, the tool does not slot it into a required column for Lima — it surfaces a "medical waiver may be required" note only where the vaccine is actually recommended, so a Lima traveller is never told they need a jab they don't.
Frankfurt → São Paulo (Brazil) via Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)
Brazil requires no yellow fever proof from travellers arriving directly from Europe — but a transit stop in Ethiopia, a yellow-fever-risk country, can trigger the requirement on arrival. Add Ethiopia as a transit country in the lookup and the "Required for entry" column flips to yellow fever, demonstrating why your routing, not just your destination, decides the answer.
Frequently asked questions
- Which vaccines are legally required to enter a country?
- For the overwhelming majority of destinations, none are. The only vaccine that countries are permitted to require under the International Health Regulations is yellow fever, and only as a condition for travellers arriving from a country with risk of transmission. A handful of countries also ask for polio or meningococcal proof in specific situations (for example Saudi Arabia for the Hajj). Anything else a clinic recommends — hepatitis A, typhoid, rabies — protects you but is not checked at the border. This tool keeps the two columns separate so you can see exactly what is mandatory versus advisable for your route.
- Is the yellow fever certificate still valid for only 10 years?
- No. Since the 2016 amendment to Annex 7 of the International Health Regulations, a single dose of yellow fever vaccine is recognised as valid for the life of the person vaccinated. The old 10-year booster requirement was removed for the purposes of the International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (the yellow card), and countries may not require revaccination or a booster as a condition of entry. Keep the original certificate dry and intact — border officials check the physical card.
- Do I need a yellow fever vaccine if I'm flying directly from my home country?
- Usually not. The requirement is almost always triggered by where you have recently been, not by where you are going. If you fly directly from a country with no yellow fever risk, most destinations will not ask for proof — even destinations that are themselves in a risk zone. It is transit through, or recent travel from, a risk country that flips the requirement on. Enter your transit countries in the lookup above and it applies the WHO risk list to your specific itinerary.
- What's the difference between 'required for entry' and 'recommended'?
- "Required for entry" means a border officer can refuse you or quarantine you without the proof — it is a legal condition of crossing. "Recommended" means a health authority such as the CDC advises the vaccine to protect your own health, but no one will stop you at immigration for skipping it. Conflating the two is the single most common mistake travellers make: they either panic-book a jab they don't need or skip protection they do. This lookup is built specifically to keep the legal column and the clinical column apart.
- Can I get a yellow fever waiver if the vaccine is unsafe for me?
- Yes. Yellow fever is a live vaccine and is contraindicated in pregnancy, in significant immunocompromise, and below 9 months of age. If you have a genuine medical contraindication, a yellow-fever vaccination centre can issue a medical exemption letter, which under the International Health Regulations is supposed to be accepted in place of the certificate — though acceptance is at the destination's discretion. The lookup flags when a recommended or required vaccine is a live vaccine that may need a waiver for your traveller profile.
- How far before departure should I get travel vaccines?
- Aim for at least four to six weeks ahead. Yellow fever takes about 10 days to become protective and to satisfy the certificate's validity start date, and multi-dose courses such as rabies pre-exposure or hepatitis B need spacing. That said, a last-minute appointment is still worth it: a single dose given even days before travel offers partial protection and is better than none. The lookup estimates your timing window from the departure date you enter and tells you whether you are in the ideal, compressed or last-minute range.
- Why does this tool only cover some countries?
- The dataset is intentionally limited to destinations where the required-versus-recommended distinction is non-trivial and has been reconciled against the cited CDC and WHO sources, rather than auto-generating 195 thin rows that would imply a verification that never happened. Where a destination is not yet in the dataset the tool says so plainly instead of guessing. For any country, always confirm with the destination's embassy and a travel-medicine clinic before you travel — official requirements can change between updates.
Not medical advice
This tool summarises CDC Yellow Book and the WHO yellow fever country list for orientation, and separates entry requirements from clinical recommendations. It is not a substitute for a clinician's consultation. Confirm requirements with the destination embassy and a travel-medicine clinic before travel.
Pre-trip health kit
Jabs booked? Three things travel-medicine clinics tell patients to pack alongside the vaccine list:
- Border officials want the original yellow card (ICVP) dry and intact — browse vaccination card holders on Amazon
- Yellow fever and malaria zones overlap, and no vaccine stops mosquito bites — compare DEET insect repellents on Amazon
- Rural and trekking itineraries mean treating small wounds yourself — see compact travel first aid kits on Amazon
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Links above are affiliate links — they fund this free lookup at no extra cost to you.
Related tools
Other BorderTrip Tools for the health and paperwork side of your trip:
- Medication customs restrictions checker — check whether your prescription or over-the-counter medicines are allowed into the destination, and what documentation customs expects.
- Visa-on-arrival eligibility checker — see whether your nationality can get a visa on arrival or needs one in advance before you book.
- EU pet travel & quarantine checker — work out the rabies titre, microchip and paperwork timeline to bring a dog or cat into the EU without quarantine.