PUERTO VALLARTA, Jalisco — After a year-long pause, Mexico’s National Vaccination Week returns on April 26 and runs through May 3, aiming to shore up the country’s faltering immunization rates and curb fresh outbreaks of measles and whooping cough. Puerto Vallarta’s Eighth Health Region confirmed that community modules and public hospitals across the bay will once again offer free shots throughout the eight-day push.
National childhood vaccination coverage has slipped steadily since 2019; a recent serological survey found that barely half of Mexican children younger than five could show a complete vaccination card. The gap has already translated into disease: the Pan-American Health Organization reported four laboratory-confirmed measles cases in Mexico during the first eight epidemiological weeks of 2025, and warned of wider regional transmission. A separate PAHO alert linked a resurgence of whooping cough across Latin America to the same drop in diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) coverage.
Where and when to get vaccinated
Saturday, April 26
- La Lija Cultural Center
- Municipal DIF headquarters
- Ixtapa Main Plaza
Sunday, April 27
- Mojoneras tianguis market
Monday, April 28 – Saturday, May 3
All vaccines will be available at every clinic and hospital in the Eighth Health Region, as well as at IMSS and ISSSTE units city-wide.
Who should attend
Health officials are prioritizing:
- Infants and children up to 9 years old
- Adolescents
- Pregnant women
- Adults 20–59
- Adults 60 and older
- Front-line health-care workers aged 20–39
Residents are asked to bring their National Vaccination Card and follow standard COVID-era precautions.
What will be offered
Fourteen biologicals—both first doses and boosters—will be on hand (availability varies by age group): tetanus-diphtheria (Td), tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis (Tdap), acellular pentavalent, measles-rubella (MR), combined measles-mumps-rubella (SRP), DPT, rotavirus, pneumococcal, Sabin-type oral polio, inactivated influenza, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, varicella, and the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine.
“Restoring routine immunization is the most effective step we can take to protect families,” the municipal announcement states, urging Vallartenses to “complete or restart” their schedules during the week-long blitz.
