'Vaccination won't be hurdle for prospective Pakistani Haji,' says top official

VACCINATION-related issues alone will not pose a hindrance for any Pakistani from performing Haj this year provided Saudi Arabia decides to keep its current travel policy during Haj time as well, the country’s top official confirmed on Tuesday (18).

Commenting on the reports of vaccine shortage in the country, the official said that Pakistan has plenty of doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, with more doses of AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines reaching soon by next month.

Saudi Arabia is yet to announce its Haj travel policy. As per the present travel policy in the country, Saudi Arabia is allowing entry only if the traveler is vaccinated for coronavirus by either one of the American or the European vaccines namely Pfizer, Moderna, Jhonson & Jhonson and AstraZeneca.

“The Saudi government has not yet announced its Haj policy which is expected by 15th Shawal (May 27, 2021). We don’t know yet whether they would allow pilgrims from outside the KSA and if allowed, how many outsiders could perform the pilgrimage. So at the moment, we are awaiting the announcement of the KSA Haj Policy,” an official of the government of Pakistan based in Riyadh told a local news outlet.

During Ramazan, the Saudi health authorities allowed the entry of only those people into the holy cities who had both the doses of the KSA-approved vaccines or those who had a single dose of any one of those vaccines 14 days earlier or those who had recovered from Covid-19 within the last six months.

The official further added that if the country maintains the same policy for Haj as well, it will not concern Pakistani nationals who are willing to make the pilgrimage this year since they will be able to get vaccinated well in time.

The official added that Pakistan is expected to receive over 100,000 doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine through COVAX by the end of June. As per the latest figures, more than 3 million people are given one dose out of which 964,000 are fully vaccinated.