Last update: November 3rd, 2021.
Costa Rica is the latest country to make vaccine passports mandatory to gain entrance to a range of public spaces and establishments.
Costa Rica’s borders have been open to travelers, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, but the new rules could drastically impact the number of tourists visiting the country.
COVID certificate regulations in Costa Rica
President Carlos Alvarado announced three changes to the current COVID-19 regulations in Costa Rica. The most significant change would be the mandate of a Costa Rican vaccine passport for activities in the following 12 sectors:
- Restaurants, cafes, and food parks (food courts or food trucks).
- Bars and casinos.
- Retail shops and shopping centers.
- Museums.
- Physical conditioning centers.
- Hotels, cabins, accommodation establishments.
- Spas.
- Activities, organizations, and congregations in places of worship.
- Event rooms for business, academic or social activities.
- Adventure tourism.
- Theaters, cinemas, art and dance academies, artistic activity establishments.
- Sports activities establishments.
“This will allow us to have greater economic openness and get out of the pandemic faster. Those people who do not have a complete scheme should not be allowed in certain places. Each unvaccinated person puts others at risk”, Alvarado said.
Costa Rica’s health pass will be in use from December 1st, 2021 and will be in the form of a QR code. The code will contain the holder’s vaccination information and will be accessed through a mobile app that is yet to launch.
From December 1st to January 8th, establishments can operate at 100% if they follow the vaccination requirements or at 50% if they choose to not do so. This is a transitional period to allow more people to complete their vaccination schedules.
From January 8th onwards, Costa Rica’s vaccine mandate will be in full effect for people over 12 years old.
How do I get the Costa Rican COVID passport?
Vaccinated citizens can download their QR code starting on November 8th, from www.usuarios.ministeriodesalud.go.cr. It will take an average of 10 days to issue the updated COVID pass in Costa Rica.
If a citizen was vaccinated abroad they can still get the Costa Rica certificado de vacunación by submitting a sworn declaration to the Health Ministry.
The declaration needs to include a copy of the original vaccine card, a Spanish translation of the vaccine card, and the Health Pass that is used to enter Costa Rica.
Can I travel to Costa Rica with my local COVID certificate?
Tourists looking to holiday in Costa Rica will also be subject to COVID pass regulations, although they will not be able to download Costa Rica’s vaccine certificate.
To enter the country, all tourists need to acquire Costa Rica’s Health Pass online and this can be used by vaccinated tourists to enter the above-mentioned establishments.
The Health Pass is completed at www.salud.go.cr. Vaccinated tourists must also carry their local vaccine certificate, like the EU Digital COVID certificate, with them at all times.
Unvaccinated tourists can also enter but need to prove adequate travel insurance in case they were to contract COVID-19. The insurance must comply with the following requirements:
- Indicate a person’s name.
- Must be valid for the entirety of your stay in Costa Rica.
- Guarantee of coverage for medical expenses in cases of contracting COVID-19 in Costa Rica, for at least USD 50,000.
- A minimum coverage of USD 2,000 for extended lodging expenses due to quarantine or can purchase a local insurance, offered by one of the authorized local insurance providers: INS Group, Sagicor, or BlueCross BlueShield.
Insurance is only needed for unvaccinated travelers over the age of 18. From January 8th, however, they will also be barred from entering establishments that require vaccination certificates.
The vaccines that are authorized in Costa Rica are:
- AstraZeneca (AZD1222 / Vaxzevria / Covishield, ChAdOx1_nCoV19)
- Johnson & Johnson (Janssen Pharmaceuticals / Ad26.COV2.S)
- Modern (Spikevax / mRNA-1273)
- Pfizer & BioNTech (Comirnaty / BNT162b2 / Tozinameran)
COVID-19 cases and vaccine statistics
By the end of October 2021, Costa Rica has overcome 3 waves of COVID-19. Only 448 new cases were recorded on October 29th, which is around 13% of the peak recorded in May. Costa Rica has the 6th highest number of cases per 1M population in North America.
As of November 1st, Costa Rica has recorded 559,698 cases of COVID-19 and 7,029 deaths.
Vaccine uptake in Costa Rica started to increase around May and nearly half of the country’s population has been fully vaccinated. A total of 6.12 million doses have been given and 2.53 million people have completed their vaccination schedule.