Getting a yellow fever vaccination in Lima, Peru

´´Anything free is worth saving up for,´´ says Grandpa Sodey in the Wisconsin/Michigan cult-classic film Escanaba in Da Moonlight.  I thought that this was true, but I will now settle for ´´Anything cheap is worth saving up for.´´

After talking to many people and visiting several places around the city, the place I recommend going to obtain a yellow fever vaccination in Lima is the Hospital del Niño at 28 de Julio and Brazil in the Breña section of Lima.  There, you can get the yellow fever vaccination for 65 nuevo soles, or $22.50 USD.  Unless you want it for free...




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To get a free vaccination for travel within the country of Peru, one can go to the Hospital Santa Rosa to obtain the shot and a certificate for domestic travel on Fridays between 8am and 11am.  However, when I went, the vaccine was no longer available so I would have to try again in a week to get the free shot.  I went to the Hospital del Niño, instead.

Also, anyone with plans to travel to in high-risk areas outside of Peru would still need to exchange their domestic-travel certificate from the free clinic for an international one at a place like the Centro de Salud San Isidro.  The certificate costs 30 nuevo soles or about $12 USD.

In the United States, you can expect to pay about $225 to get a yellow fever vaccination if you are paying out of pocket.  At Physicians Plus Travel Clinic in Madison, WI, most visits include a $54 counseling fee, a $146 fee for the vaccination itself, and $24 for a nurse to administer the shot, totalling $224.

In his talk, Money Saving Advice From a Cheapskate, Ryan Wanger says, ¨Being a cheapskate is all about time and money.  People who have a lot of money, they don´t want to invest the time.  Then there´s the reverse; people who are cheapskates, their motto is ´my time is basically worthless.´¨

$24 for a shot in Lima was small beans compared to getting the shot for $225 back home, but this time, the free shot wasn´t worth saving up for.

By the way, I´m posting this less than twelve hours after getting my shot, and I am still alive, so hopefully I can still say ´It was worth it´ 48 hours from now.