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Oct 27, 2025

PAHO Urges Yellow-Fever and Measles Vaccination for COP30 Delegates Travelling to Belém

PAHO Urges Yellow-Fever and Measles Vaccination for COP30 Delegates Travelling to Belém
With just two weeks until the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) opens in Belém, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) reiterated on 27 October its call for all inbound travellers—especially delegates from non-endemic regions—to ensure they are vaccinated against yellow fever and measles at least ten days before arrival.

Although no human cases have been reported in Belém this year, PAHO data show 294 yellow-fever infections across six Latin-American countries in 2025, including 37 in Brazil’s neighbouring states. The Amazon region remains a permanent transmission zone, and the influx of an estimated 60,000 international visitors heightens the risk of imported cases spreading through urban mosquito populations.

PAHO recommends a single lifetime dose of yellow-fever vaccine for travellers aged 12 months to 59 years, with a risk–benefit assessment for those over 60, plus an MMR booster for measles. While Brazil does not require an International Certificate of Vaccination for entry, airlines and conference organisers have begun messaging participants and setting up mobile vaccination points at airports in Miami, Lisbon and São Paulo.

Event planners advising corporate delegations should factor the ten-day window into travel dates and ensure that proof of vaccination is uploaded to COP30’s accreditation portal. Multinationals with duty-of-care obligations are also updating emergency-medical protocols to include rapid isolation procedures in case of febrile illness.

Local authorities in Pará have stepped up vector-control efforts around venues and tourist hotspots, deploying 150 additional health inspectors and launching a bilingual awareness campaign on mosquito-bite prevention. Hotels contracted by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are required to provide free insect repellent in guest rooms and maintain air-conditioning filters.
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