Saudi health ministry approves of Sinopharm, Sinovac Covid vaccines

RIYADH: The Saudi Arabian health ministry has announced Sinopharm and Sinovac to be amongst the six approved vaccines against coronavirus in the Kingdom, ARY News reported.

“In the event of giving approval to any other vaccines, it will be announced at the time through the official channels approved by the Ministry of Health and the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA),” the ministry said in a statement according to the local media.

There is a possibility, said the ministry, to accept the vaccination of those who have received two doses of Sinopharm or Sinovac vaccines.

However, it is a proviso that they receive a booster dose of one of the other approved vaccines in the Kingdom that are Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna.

Saudi Arabia to link smart health passport with IATA for int’l passengers

Separately earlier this week, the Kingdom decided to link health passports issued by the Tawakkalna application with the application of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to facilitate international passengers.

The Saudi Arabian authorities will link the health passport with the application of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as part of facilitating travel procedures for international passengers.

Tawakkalna application was designed by Saudi Arabia to issue health passports to those who have received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine