Saudi Arabia Adds Covaxin In Its List Of Approved Covid-19 Vaccines
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Roshan Amiri
- . December 21, 2021
- . Update: December 21, 2021 10:34 pm
Saudi arabia–Bharat Biotech’s vaccine creation, Covaxin has now been approved by the Saudi Arabian government. It has added the vaccine in its list of approved vaccines for use towards combating the various mutations of the Coronavirus.
Covaxin has recently received approval from the United Nations and the European Union as well. With this development, those who are vaccinated through the vaccine can now enter the Kingdom without any restrictions. The only criterion is that those vaccinated will have to upload their form on the portal given in the twitter posted by the Saudi Arabian government. Residents would do it at the Ministry of Health while the other should do it on the Muqeem website.
It only a month back that the WHO has granted approval for Emergency Use Listing of Covaxin to India. Up until then, no one with that dose could travel into Europe. The Bharat Biotech’s vaccine was found to have 78 per cent efficacy against the Covid-19 of any severity, 14 or more days after the second dose.
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However, it is said to give wider coverage against other mutations aswell. In addition, Saudi Arabia has approved vaccines like Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Oxford-AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Sinopharm, and Sinovac. In recent days, Covaxin has also been recognised by several countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Bahrain, Oman, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Australia, amongst others. As news goes around expected to rise in the coming days.
Saudi Arabia has made some significant announcements in two weeks of December. Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah said that institutional quarantine is not required for foreign Umrah pilgrims who have taken two doses of Covid-19 vaccines approved in the Kingdom. Also, foreign pilgrims aged 12 years and above will now be allowed to enter the Kingdom and perform Umrah.
In the month of November also, the Kingdom has dropped the maximum age limit of 50 years for foreign pilgrims performing Umrah. The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah launched a service enabling overseas Umrah pilgrims to obtain permits for performing the rituals in the Grand Mosque in Mecca. Pilgrims will also be permitted to offer their respects to Prophet Mohammed in Medina through the health apps Eatmarna and Tawakkalna after registering in the platform Qudum. The temporary ban on Umrah pilgrims was lifted and the service resumed on November 1, 2020, and overseas pilgrims were allowed to stay for 10 days only as part of efforts to limit Covid-19 spread.
On October 17, due to a consequential decline in Covid-19 cases and a considerable development in vaccinations in the Kingdom, the interior ministry of Saudi Arabia eased Covid-19 restrictions.
