Health Ministry Launches Measles Vaccination Push for Brazilians Travelling to 2026 FIFA World Cup

With just six weeks until kick-off in North America, Brazil’s Ministry of Health on 29 April unveiled a nationwide campaign urging supporters heading to the 2026 FIFA World Cup to update their measles immunisations. The initiative, branded ‘Vacinar é muito Brasil’, comes after the ministry’s Disease Prevention Department released Technical Note 116 warning of active outbreaks in all three host nations—United States, Mexico and Canada. Although Brazil remains certified as free of endemic measles, officials fear that mass travel could re-introduce the virus. Cases in Canada alone topped 870 in the first quarter, while Mexico and the United States recorded 9 207 and 1 738 infections respectively. Under the new guidance, would-be travellers must receive an MMR dose at least 15 days before departure; proof of vaccination will be required at 20 major Brazilian airports in the form of a digital or paper yellow booklet uploaded to the Conecte SUS app.



Fans who still need to organise visas or other travel authorisations can turn to VisaHQ’s Brazil portal (https://www.visahq.com/brazil/), where specialists help travellers attach vaccination certificates to Conecte SUS and secure any additional documents required for multi-country itineraries, keeping World Cup plans on track.

The campaign is coordinated with Embratur, the Brazilian Confederation of Football (CBF) and leading airlines, which will display QR codes linking to appointment schedulers during boarding announcements on Canada-, U.S- and Mexico-bound flights. Corporate mobility managers should incorporate the requirement into pre-trip approvals: failure to present an updated vaccination certificate could result in denied boarding or quarantine on re-entry, potentially disrupting project timelines for staff travelling on business visa categories. To reach remote workforces, mobile vaccination clinics will tour industrial hubs such as Manaus, Camaçari and São José dos Campos in May. Employers that host on-site health units may request bulk vaccine allocations via a new MoH online portal, provided they upload anonymised employee-travel manifests. The ministry stressed that the campaign is preventative; no travel bans are in place. Still, HR departments with large expatriate or commuting populations—especially in engineering consultancies gearing up for North-American infrastructure projects around the World Cup—should brief assignees on the documentation process and factor a minimum two-week lead time into travel plans.