When a major outbreak of yellow fever hits, countries need to access vaccine supplies urgently for rapid vaccination campaigns to control spread of the disease.

Urban yellow fever can spread rapidly in densely populated cities, causing thousands of deaths and very serious humanitarian consequences. Vaccination is the most important measure for preventing the disease.

If countries do not have sufficient yellow fever vaccine supplies, they can access the global stockpile of emergency vaccines.

In 1997, WHO in partnership with UNICEF, Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) created the International Coordinating Group (ICG) for the Provision of Vaccines to manage emergency vaccine stockpiles for future outbreaks and coordinate the distribution of vaccines to the areas of most urgent need. ICGs have been established to provide access to cholera, meningitis and yellow fever vaccines.

The yellow fever vaccine takes a long time to produce – around 12 months – and it is difficult to forecast in advance the quantities that will be needed each year to respond to outbreaks.