Saudi Arabia to accept Chinese vaccines with booster shot

Saudi Arabia has decided to allow conditional entry of travellers fully vaccinated with China's Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines provided they have had a booster shot, said authorities as the kingdom opened to international tourists

“Guests who have completed two doses of the Sinopharm or Sinovac vaccines will be accepted if they have received an additional dose of one of the four vaccines approved in the Kingdom,” the Saudi authorities wrote on their official visa website.

Read Saudi Arabia to make Covid-19 vaccinations mandatory for all workers

So far, only AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson have been approved by the Saudi health authorities. However, all visitors arriving in the country will be required to provide proof of vaccination along with a negative PCR test.

Moreover, travellers arriving in the kingdom will be required to “provide a negative PCR test taken no more than 72 hours before departure and an approved paper vaccination certificate, certified by the official health authorities in the issuing country”.

In a bid to facilitate the travel, Saudi Arabia has also removed the quarantine requirement for vaccinated individuals.

Earlier, Pakistanis, who had been administered Chinese vaccines, had to undergo a mandatory quarantine in Saudi Arabia. This had prompted the Pakistani government to lift a rule barring the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for people below 40 years old to help inoculate people travelling to the Gulf state.

Pakistan relies heavily on remittances from its expatriate workers in Saudi Arabia and the unavailability of AstraZeneca or other vaccines accepted by the Saudis had led to multiple protests in the country.