Saudi Arabia has now allowed Pakistanis inoculated with Chinese vaccine for Covid-19 to enter the Kingdom. The move was made amid Pakistan’s request to include China-made vaccines to its list of approved Covid-19 shots for visitors.
In addition to 2 shots of approved Chinese vaccines, a booster shot of Saudi-approved vaccines will also be administered on arrival in KSA. The Saudi Ministry of Health had previously approved four Covid vaccines including Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines for it’s residents.
In a move to ease the travel restrictions due to Covid, two Chinese vaccines, Sinovac and Sinopharm are now added to the visitor-approved list. Travelers vaccinated with either one of these Chinese vaccines can now enter the Saudi premises.
However, the visitors will have to receive a booster shot of one of the four originally approved vaccines for the Kingdom on arrival at the airport.
According to the health authorities, visitors to Saudi Arabia are also required to enter the vaccine data on the website. In addition, the travelers will have to provide evidence of negative PCR tests on arrival.
Earlier, the Kingdom had issued a list of recommended vaccines, which did not include vaccines manufactured in China. That became a major concern for the Pakistani expatriates who work in Saudi Arabia.
The Kingdom also barred direct travel from Pakistan citing pandemic concerns as Pakistan has relied extensively on the Sinopharm, CanSino, and Sinovac vaccines purchased from China.
Last month, Minister for Interior, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed had said that Prime Minister Imran Khan himself was handling the middle east matter. He reassured that PM was persuading Saudi and other Middle Eastern states to accept the Sinopharm vaccination certificate.
In May, Pakistan received 1.2 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine under the World Health Organisation’s COVAX programme. The government has started using AstraZeneca to inoculate people of Pakistan.
The government has also made an agreement to procure 13 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer, Minister of State for Health Dr Faisal Sultan announced last month.
“An exact timeline is not yet available, but the doses would arrive by the end of 2021, under an agreement the government has made with the manufacturer,” said Dr Faisal.
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