Only fully vaccinated pilgrims allowed for Umrah, prayers at Grand Mosque

RIYADH: The Saudi Arabian Hajj and Umrah ministry has announced that only fully vaccinated pilgrims with two doses will be allowed to apply for the permit for performing Umrah and prayer at the Grand Mosque in Makkah starting Sunday, Oct. 10.

The Saudi local media reported that the same requirements will apply for the permits to visit the Rawdah Sharif at the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah.

The Hajj and Umrah ministry said that categories exempted from taking vaccinations, as shown by Tawakkalna application, will not be affected by the rule.

One must take the second dose 48 hours before the date of the permit to avoid cancelation, the ministry asked applicants.

The media further said the appointments for getting the Covid shots are available at the vaccination centers throughout the Kingdom.

This means that the categories of pilgrims who only got the single shot or have recovered from the infection will no longer be able to obtain permit for performing Umrah and prayer at the Grand Mosque as well as for the visit of the Rawdah Sharif through the Eatmarna and Tawakkalna applications.

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The ministry indicated that all precautionary and preventive measures related to the pandemic are subject to continuous evaluation by the Public Health Authority (Weqaya), according to the developments in the epidemiological situation.

For now, the health ministry has announced that the health status on the Tawakkalna application would be updated starting Oct. 10 (today), under which the status of immune would be given only to people who have completed vaccination.

The health status will show ‘immune’ on the Tawakkalna application for people who receive two doses of any of the vaccines of Pfizer-BionTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca, and Moderna, or one dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine.