Do you need a yellow fever vaccine to visit the border?

Direct answer: It depends on where you live or where you are travelling from. Paraguay requires the International Certificate of Vaccination against yellow fever from anyone arriving from a risk zone, and the official list includes Amazonas, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul and Roraima — Paraná is not on the list. The requirement covers ages 1 to 59, and the shot must have been given at least 10 days before travel. Argentina does not require it, only recommends it. Brazil recommends the vaccine for Foz do Iguaçu, which sits in a recommended-vaccination area.

This is the question that trips up the most people at the border, because the answer going around is "you don't need it" — and for a share of travellers, you do.

To enter Paraguay (Ciudad del Este)

Resolution S.G. N° 268, dated 9 May 2025, from Paraguay's Ministry of Health, applies.

Who must present the certificate: anyone aged 1 to 59 arriving from a risk zone. In Brazil, the zones named in the rule are:

Amazonas · Minas Gerais · São Paulo · Rio Grande do Sul · Roraima

Paraná is not on that list. In practice:

• You live in Foz do Iguaçu or in Paraná: the requirement does not reach you.
• You came from São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, Amazonas or Roraima to visit Foz and want to cross the bridge: it does, even for a few hours.

How it works:

• The certificate may be physical or digital
• The vaccine must have been given at least 10 days before travel. Anyone vaccinated less than 10 days earlier is not admitted, certificate in hand or not
• It can be requested when buying the ticket or at immigration

Who falls outside the requirement: children under 1, people aged 60 or over, passengers in transit for under 24 hours, and anyone with a medical contraindication — in that case with a certificate from a health professional and health monitoring for 6 days.

The rule opens no exception for land crossings, day trips or residents of border cities. What changes your situation is the state you are coming from, not the kind of trip.

To enter Argentina (Puerto Iguazú)

Argentina does not require a vaccination certificate. The vaccine is recommended by health authorities for anyone visiting the north of the country, including the Falls region, but that is public-health guidance, not an immigration requirement.

To stay in Foz do Iguaçu

Foz do Iguaçu is on Brazil's Health Ministry list of recommended-vaccination areas. A recommendation, not an obligation: nobody asks for a certificate to enter the city.

The context is worth stating, because "risk area" sounds worse than it is: Foz has never recorded a case of yellow fever, and the last locally acquired case in Paraná was in 2008, in Laranjal, some 400 km away.

Where to get vaccinated

In Foz do Iguaçu the vaccine is free at the public health units (UBS). The International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (ICVP), which is the document accepted at the border, is issued by Anvisa from the vaccination record in your booklet or in ConecteSUS.

Plan ahead: there are 10 days between the shot and being allowed to travel. Deciding the night before does not work.

Before you cross

See which documents to take to Ciudad del Este and the bridge queue now.

Sources: Paraguay Migraciones — health requirements (Resolution S.G. N° 268/2025) · Brazilian Ministry of Health · Paraná State Health Department · checked 10 September 2026