Travel vaccinations for Brazil

What vaccines do you need for Brazil?

Brazil does not legally require yellow fever vaccination for UK arrivals, but it is strongly recommended for most regions and required for travel between certain Brazilian states. Beyond yellow fever, hepatitis A and typhoid are essential for food and water safety.

If your trip includes the Amazon, rabies and malaria prevention move up the priority list. Carnival in Rio requires nothing extra beyond routine vaccines, but dengue prevention is important year-round.

Yellow fever: why it matters for Brazil

Yellow fever outbreaks have occurred in previously low-risk areas of Brazil in recent years, including areas around Sao Paulo and Rio states. The vaccine is a single dose, valid for life, and we issue the internationally recognised certificate on the day of vaccination.

Dengue, Zika and mosquito prevention

Dengue and Zika are both spread by Aedes mosquitoes that bite during the day. There is no traveller vaccine for either. Prevention is entirely about not getting bitten: 50% DEET repellent, treated clothing, and air-conditioned accommodation.

Amazon travel and malaria

The Amazon basin carries malaria risk. If your itinerary includes Manaus, jungle lodges, river cruises or the Pantanal, we’ll prescribe appropriate antimalarials and supply a mosquito prevention kit.

What to pack from the pharmacy

We’ll build you a Brazil travel kit: DEET repellent, SPF 50+, rehydration sachets, anti-diarrhoea treatment, antihistamines and, if needed, antimalarials. All available over the counter at 139 New Road.

Adding Peru, Bolivia or Argentina to a Brazil trip

Very few people fly to South America for Brazil alone, and the add-ons change the advice more than the main destination does. Peru and Bolivia bring altitude: Cusco sits at around 3,400 metres and La Paz higher still, which is enough to make altitude sickness a real planning question rather than a footnote. We can discuss acetazolamide, how to phase your ascent, and why arriving at Cusco and going straight to Machu Picchu is a worse plan than it sounds.

Yellow fever requirements also travel with you. Several countries in the region ask for a certificate from anyone arriving from Brazil, even when they would not ask a traveller coming directly from the UK, so a Brazil-then-elsewhere itinerary can create a requirement that neither leg would create on its own.

Argentina, Uruguay and Chile need very little beyond routine cover, so a trip that ends there is simpler than it looks. What we need from you is the order of the countries and the dates, because that is what determines both the requirements and how much time your courses have to fit into.

Booking a Brazil travel clinic near you in Medway

We are at 139 New Road in Chatham, two minutes from Chatham railway station, and we are a designated Yellow Fever Vaccination Centre, which is the part of a Brazil trip most travellers struggle to arrange locally. Travellers reach us easily from Gillingham, Rochester, Strood, Rainham, Walderslade and Maidstone, and no GP registration is needed.

Yellow fever needs ten days to take effect before it counts for entry requirements, so a Brazil booking is the one worth making as soon as your flights are confirmed. If you are already inside that window, come in anyway: we will tell you honestly what protection is still achievable and what your options are at the border.