Bogota residents and travelers get yellow fever vaccine as cases increase in Colombia

Bogota residents and travelers got yellow fever shots in Salitre bus station and El Dorado airport after the government declared a health emergency due to a deadly outbreak of yellow fever that has so far claimed 34 lives, according to a government statement. 

Cases have also been reported in areas where the virus has not been historically located, such as the coffee-growing Caldas region, according to the president’s office. Yellow fever is a disease that is transmitted to humans by the bites of infected mosquitoes.

The office of President Gustavo Petro urged Colombians to receive the single-dose vaccine, which is free and can be administered to anyone older than nine months.  Medical teams would be deployed to administer vaccines in the affected areas, the office announced.