French Polynesia travel health
Required is not recommended: the first is what the border asks about, the second is what a clinic would suggest. Both, for French Polynesia, then the number to dial and what care costs a visitor. Applies to every guide in French Polynesia: Tahiti & Bora Bora.
Required to enter
- Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present
Recommended
- Routine vaccinations up to date
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid for longer stays on remote atolls
Emergency number
15 for an ambulance, 17 for police
Care for visitors
Good but costly
Tahiti has a modern French-standard hospital in Papeete and a recompression chamber. The outer islands have small clinics and little else, so anything serious means an evacuation flight to Papeete and, for the most severe cases, to New Zealand or Hawaii. That flight is the reason to hold real insurance.
Dengue, zika and chikungunya all occur in outbreaks. Ciguatera poisoning from reef fish is a genuine local risk — eat what the locals eat. Stonefish and sea urchins mean not walking barefoot on the reef.
The general rules — clinic timing, water, mosquitoes, insurance — are in travel health tips.
