Where can I find the official yellow fever vaccination requirements to transit Panama?

Upvote:2

According to the CDC and many other websites specialized in this (like charter companies, vaccination clinics) one is only required have a vaccination against Yellow Fever if:

Traveling from a country with risk of YF virus transmission and ≥1 year of age, including transit >12 hours in an airport located in a country with risk of YF virus transmission.

This includes some countries in Africa and South America.

This is also confirmed by Panama 2019 qouting the Health Ministry of Panama.

I tried searching on Google for Yellow Fever Vaccine site:pa but I didn't find too much about it. .pa is the TLD of Panama.

Upvote:2

There is no specific Panamanian authority link with the entry requirement of a YF vaccine that I have been able to find, but here are some related links from Panamanian organizations/organizations whom Panama is part of that may be of help. They are in Spanish.

The OPS (Pan-American Health Organization - PAHO) site states that you must have vaccinated against Yellow Fever 10 days before travelling to a site determined to be at risk. Panama is a member country of this international organization, a branch of the UN.

The list of countries at risk in the Americas is as follows:

  • Bolivia
  • Brazil
  • Colombia
  • Ecuador
  • French Guiana
  • Suriname
  • Perú

Since YF is a lifetime vaccine recognized by MINSA (Panamanian Health Ministry), once you have vaccinated, you can carry your vaccine card as proof if questioned, since you are coming from a country in the list.

The Tourism Authority of Panama has some entry requirements as a tourist, but no health related requirements. It should be less restrictive if only as a layover. This also reflects what is mentioned in your embassy of Panama link.

So in your case, you might not need to confirm your vaccine as a hard requirement, but it is probably assumed that if you are coming from Ecuador, a country in the OPS list, you already have been vaccinated against it. The WHO recommends the vaccine for entry, but according to the sources from the government sites it is not an enforced requirement by the Panamanian government.

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