Yellow Fever shots for Namibia

[Mud Lake Man]

Myself and two friends are headed to Namibia in August. We travel from Washington D.C. to Dakar, Senegal, then to JoBerg before finally arriving in Windhoek. We're stopping in Dakar only for fuel (I assume) and won't be leaving the airport. The stop in Dakar is almost hidden in the flight itinerary, but it does show one stop, Dakar, with no associated time frames.

South Africa requires yellow fever vaccination for anyone coming from countries with risk of yellow fever transmission. Senegal is one of those countries.

Since we won't even be leaving the airport in Dakar, do we still need the yellow fever vaccination?

I'd appreciate advice from anyone with recent experience with a similar flight itinerary.

We're headed to HA NORE.

Thanks
Doug

[Jaiverri]

I hunted the Northern Province of South Africa last year and flew through Johannesburg. Vaccinations were not checked althought we stopped, but did not leave the airplane, at Senegal. That does not mean that you should not have the vaccination. Check the CDC website: Center for Disease Control and look at their recommendations for travel to Namibia.  
Mud Lake Man: I used to live in Boise.

[Jeff Sample]

I took the Delta flight from Atlanta to JoBerg, which stopped in Dakar for fuel and to let a few passengers off and a few new ones on. We were only on the ground for about an hour, and were not allowed to leave the plane (there was a security check, which was pretty bogus). I found the CDC site less than informative on this specific question when I was asking it a year ago. I was told by Neil Summers at Bowhunting Safari Consultants, our booking agent, and our travel agent at Gracy Travel in TX, which specializes in arranging travel for hunters going to Africa, that we did not require yellow fever vacinations just for this.

[Jeff Sample]

P.S. - On the ground in Dakar they also told us that they were applying an insecticidal fumigant that "was harmless to humans".

[Spinealigner]

I didn't get any vaccines when I went to Namibia other than an updated Tetanus shot.

[amar911]

Jeff gave a good report on the flights. I have made the flight from Washington, DC (Dulles airport) to Johannesburg and back on a number of occasions. The flight does stop and refuel in Dakar, which takes about an hour on the 18 hour flight. I always choose to fly South African Airways as opposed to Delta. There is really no reason to be vaccinated for Yellow Fever based on that refueling stop. The fumigation of the cabin with insecticide is an unpleasant requirement that I am certain does have human health repercussions despite assurances to the contrary by the flight crew. In the mid-1990's I would routinely get Yellow Fever vaccinations when traveling to southern Africa. The vaccinations always made me very sick for a few days, so I am glad that Yellow Fever is no longer a significant problem in southern Africa and I no longer need to be vaccinated. I would definitely avoid taking any Yellow Fever vaccinations unless you will actually be staying in an area where there is a known problem, and that stop in Dakar is definitely not such a problem.

Allan