KINGSTON, Jamaica — National Epidemiologist Dr Karen Webster-Kerr is advising that Jamaican nationals and residents returning to the island from yellow fever-affected countries who do not have proof of vaccination will be quarantined.

She made the disclosure while speaking to OBSERVER ONLINE on Friday. Dr Webster-Kerr is sitting in for Chief Medical Officer Dr Winston De La Haye while he is off the island.

She told OBSERVER ONLINE that there are no suspected or confirmed cases of yellow fever in Jamaica, but that Jamaicans returning from select locations will require proof of yellow fever vaccination. She named the Fujian Province, Jiangsu Province and Beijing, China, as a few of those locations.

“If this (proof of yellow fever vaccination) is not available, they will be quarantined,” Dr Webster-Kerr said.

She added that non-Jamaicans without proof of vaccination would not be landed.

“Proof of yellow fever vaccination is a requirement for all persons entering Jamaica from any country for which yellow fever is endemic or there is a yellow fever outbreak,” Dr Webster-Kerr explained.

Yellow fever is an acute illness caused by the yellow fever virus, which is found in the tropics of South America and Africa. The virus is transmitted by the bite of an infected Aedes aegypti mosquito, the same vector that transmits the chikungunya, dengue and Zika viruses.

The Ministry of Health has advised that yellow fever vaccines are available and administered at the Comprehensive Health Centre in Kingston on Fridays, from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm.

Vaccines are also available at the Montego Bay Type 5 Health Centre in St James every first Monday and Wednesday and every third Monday and Thursday during clinic hours.

The cost is $1,500 per vaccine.