This is a guide to getting your free Yellow Fever vaccination in the two largest cities of Peru – Lima and Arequipa.
Yellow Fever Risk Zones Worldwide (Image – University of Delaware)
Despite all of the discussions surrounding vaccines; their safety, their necessity and the long term health implications of being vaccinated from infancy to adulthood – if you want to travel to certain parts of the world, then they are something that you’re just going to have to come to terms with. (Unless you want to try and get fake paperwork, but we don’t know anything about that and we don’t recommend it either!)
Yellow fever is a potentially fatal tropical disease caused by a virus that is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected mosquitoes. It can be prevented through vaccination and by preventing exposure to mosquito bites.
If you’re planning on heading into any jungle areas, either in Peru itself or in any of the neighbouring countries, or to Central America, then there’s a very good chance that you’re going to require a vaccination record, stamped to show that you have had your Yellow Fever vaccine before you can even check in for your flight. You also need to ensure that you have your vaccination at least 10 days before your flight, or they still may not let you board the aircraft!
Check the vaccination requirements for each country you plan to visit.
While much of Peru is outside of the risk areas, it is one of the principal gateway countries to lots of other regions and countries which are inside of it! For this reason, getting your Yellow Fever Vaccination in Peru it’s pretty easy and very cheap.
Yellow Fever Vaccine in Lima (NOT FREE)
In Lima, the process is very simple – Head to Jorge Chavez International Airport and walk into the health centre with your passport. Get injected. Wait ten days for vaccine to become effective. Travel!
Yellow Fever Vaccine in Arequipa
Getting the Yellow Fever vaccine in Arequipa takes a little more thought, but is still a relatively easy process and you needn’t pay a private clinic several hundred Dollars either. In fact, it’s as cheap as $3 USD, plus your taxi ride to the city hospital – Hospital Regional Honorio Delgado Espinoza to be exact, as there are more than one.
Vaccination Centre building
When you arrive at the hospital gates, enter the hospital car park, immediately turn left and keep walking until you see the building in the picture above. If you walk out of the other side of the hospital without seeing the happy, vaccinated babies, then you’ve gone too far!
When you walk into the building, check with the lady at the desk and ask if they are actually administering Yellow Fever vaccinations today. We went on a Tuesday, which is usually the day off for Yellow Fever, but they did it anyway, just to be nice. This is Peru, so you need to expect the rules to be loose and changeable with no notice!
Purchasing the vaccinations booklet
If all goes well, you will be directed to the Caja in the main building entrance foyer, where you need to buy an ‘International Certificate of Vaccination or Re-vaccination against Yellow Fever and Others.’ But just ask them for a ‘libro de vaccination,’ it’ll save a lot of time! This little yellow booklet will cost just 10 Soles, which is about $3 at the time of publishing this article.
Vaccination booklets
Once you have your booklets, you can go back to the Vaccination Centre, where the nurse will tell you what to write and where. Remember, you need your passport for practically everything in Peru, they love writing passport numbers on everything!
As soon as you have filled your little books in, then you’re ready for your injection! At this point you have two choices, shown in picture form below.
Option 1 – Scream like a child / Option 2 – Hold your arm in weird way a look bored
Now that the searing pain and weird arm holding are over, you only have one step left to complete the whole process. The nurse will direct you back to the main building entrance foyer, where you need to look for the Mesa de Partes, where your little booklet will receive its final stamps and you can exit the building, ready for all the Yellow Fever the world can throw at you – Congratulations!
Comments 13
Me and my girlfriend got the vaccines today. We went to the hospital a bit late ~8:30 but we still got them. The hospital is really easy to find, about 20 mins walking from Plaza de Armas and everything is still the same as Jonathan described it. It was so easy thanks to this article! All the places in the hospital are the same as the photos here. The opening hours so to say are from 7:30 to 12:00 on Wednesday. Also we paid only 20 soles, 10 per person with the booklet included.
As of March 21 2018, Austin’s comments are still accurate. Jabs are on Wednesdays only but it’s all pretty straightforward thanks to this page! And still only 10 soles!
I went to the hospital Arequipa and got this injection this morning. Very helpful instructions, and got me the shot and paperwork with a minimum of difficulty.
Some minor updates:
Wednesday is still the the day for the Yellow Fever vaccinations, but the signs all say it is available from 7:30am to noon. I arrived around 9, and the line was about a half hour long.
With the line today, I wish I would have gone straight to the caja for the booklet as soon as I arrived. I waited in line for a while, then asked someone else in line if I would need it, and left to get it, losing my place. As long as it is fairly clear that they are administering the vaccination, I think it is probably good to begin with the trip to the caja for the booklet and then wait in line.
Otherwise, great instructions, very helpful, I’m glad to have gotten this shot here rather than at home for much more cost.
Thank you for your update!
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Another update: just got a vaccine at Arequipa. As of July 2016 they only do yellow fever once a week, from 9 am to 12, noon, on Wednesdays
Thank you! This is a great update. I have been looking for a place to get this vaccine and OMG everyone tells different things even though all of them are Peruvians! I will get it coming Wednesday for sure right before leaving Arequipa!
Thanks for your info, I just got back from getting my shot at the airport, it isn’t free…about $30, but now I can get back into Costa Rica…I sure didn’t know anything about this requirement, it would have been problematic at immigration!!!
I went to the airport yesterday and was told it is not free!
Did they at least provide a certificate for the shot Kia? I need it to enter Brazil!
I didn’t get the shot because I didn’t want to pay the money since you can get it for free at other hospitals. I just got to Brazil a couple days ago and didn’t need to get the vaccine to get in but if you get the shot just ask them for a certificate:)
So Brazil does not require a certificate when you fly in (even if you have visited Peru in the last 90 days)?
Thank you 🙂
Beau! We actually entered in Tabatinga, Amazon of Brazil didnt ask us for our yellow fever vaccine but please prepare it whatever happens before you enter the country.