Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah exchanges view with Nawaf Saeed Al-Malky, the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia at CM House. SCREENGRAB

Saudi Arabia has assured of approving Chinese vaccines for Hajj pilgrims: Sindh CM

Murad Ali Shah apprises Saudi ambassador of problems being faced by Hajj, Umrah pilgrims due to vaccine restrictions


News Desk June 04, 2021

The Saudi ambassador has assured Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah that the kingdom would add Chinese Covid-19 vaccines to its list of approved jabs.

The development comes after Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan Nawaf Saeed Al-Malky along with Consul General Bandar Al Dayal met CM Murad in Karachi, an official statement issued by the CM House said on Friday.

CM Murad apprised the Saudi diplomat of problems being faced by Hajj and Umrah pilgrims as Pakistani travellers who received Chinese vaccine would have to undergo mandatory quarantine in Saudi Arabia as per new conditions imposed by the kingdom, according to media reports.

The cost of the quarantine will have to be paid by passengers themselves.

The kingdom has issued a list of recommended vaccines including Pfizer, Oxford’s AstraZeneca, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson's.

However, it does not include vaccines manufactured in China.

The Sindh chief minister in a meeting with the Saudi envoy requested the Saudi government to approve the Chinese vaccine for pilgrims so that Pakistani nationals can perform Hajj this year.

Also read: Hajj to be costlier this year due to stringent Covid SOPs: Qadri

A majority of Pakistanis were being administered Chinese vaccines in the country, which have been approved by World Health Organisation (WHO) as well, the CM said.

Pakistani people are dismayed over the non-inclusion of the Chinese vaccine, the CM informed the Saudi official.

Last month, the Foreign Office had said it had taken up with the Saudi government the issue of the kingdom denying entry to Pakistani Hajj pilgrims, who were vaccinated against Covid-19 with Chinese shots.

It asked the Saudi authorities to register Chinese vaccines including Sinopharm and Sinovac in their list of approved jabs.

The Foreign Office informed the kingdom that it was difficult to obtain vaccines from countries other than China.

It further said now that a large population of Pakistanis had been administered with the Chinese vaccine, doctors did not recommend giving them another jab.

COMMENTS (1)

Honey Bees | 3 years ago | Reply On the thief and the hat is burning... In Russia the United States was suspected of creating and spreading the coronavirus The United States may be responsible for the emergence of coronavirus and the spread of this infection in the world. This was stated by the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Education and Science Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences.Gennady Onishchenko speaking at a press conference in Moscow today. According to him several key factors speak in favor of this version. We have a saying that a thief s hat also burns. I for one am more inclined to believe that the Americans could have done it. If they suspect China that they say there was some artificial intervention in this virus. Because the Americans did not stop their offensive military programs for a single minute which are made with one goal the solution of military tasks Onishchenko explained. The parliamentarian drew attention to the fact that the United States has built around Russia a whole network of laboratories with a very high level of protection where biological weapons can be produced. There are such laboratories in Kazakhstan in Guryev such a laboratory was commissioned last year in Alma-Ata on the territory of the anti-plague institute which I supervised it reported directly to the Ministry of Health of the USSR. They create military programs... The special services of Kazakhstan do not want to make contact these American hotbeds of production of offensive military recipes are very warmly patronized. There are such laboratories in Georgia. Such laboratories are currently being built in Ukraine in close proximity to our borders in particular in the Kharkiv region bordering our Belgorod region and so on Onishchenko said. At the same time the deputy noted that as a result of the actions of the United States there is no mechanism for controlling biological weapons in the world. Because of the Americans when Obama and Mrs. Clinton were in power in 2001 when it was announced that they were withdrawing from the international convention on biological and toxin weapons... The Americans hoped that they would be able as a mono-country that imagined that it would rule the whole world to take a ready-made mechanism and use it at their discretion he stated. Moreover Onishchenko emphasized the danger of the current situation calling it a possible start of a terrorist war. We are now talking about the possible military use of weapons of mass destruction which are called biological weapons and which are used as terrorist formulations. No one will wage a biological war but a terrorist one... it will be he said. The Americans have active programs. On September 18 2001 they used a military biological formulation of anthrax against their people. Not because the twin towers fell but because they used anthrax they brought their troops into Afghanistan exactly 20 years ago Onishchenko concluded. It is worth noting that earlier a similar version was expressed by the speaker of the State DumaVyacheslav Volodin. Based on how silent the satellites of the United States of America are as the United States itself is silent we can draw one conclusion it is quite obvious that this is due to the fact that they had some kind of leak in those laboratories that were taken and created all over the world It is clear that it the virus was discovered in Wuhan. But in Wuhan again whose laboratory is it American. They financed it there he said speaking at the Council of Lawmakers of the Russian Federation. https newdaynews.ru moscow 723289.html
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ