Saudi Arabia refuses to accept pilgrims inoculated with Iranian Covid vaccines

Saudi Arabia is sticking to its guns about the rejection of Hajj pilgrims from Iran who got inoculated with Iranian-made Covid vaccines.

The first group of Iranian Hajj pilgrims heads to Saudi Arabia to perform the Islamic rituals.

This forced Iranian pilgrims who are heading to Saudi Arabia for Hajj these days to get jabs approved by the Saudis.

The vaccines approved by Saudi Arabia are Sinopharm, Sputnik and Astrazenca which have been widely used in Iran during the inoculation process.

After Riyadh announced this list, Iranian officials urged the kingdom to reconsider its decision and accept Iranian-made Barakat jab, which has been used by many in Iran. But Saudi Arabia did not change its mind.

The Saudis have said all pilgrims must be double-vaxxed. But Iranian Hajj officials have called on all pilgrims to get three doses in case the Saudis change their decision again.

Many of the Hajj pilgrims from Iran are triple-vaxxed, and those who got Barakat jabs are now trying to complete their vaccination.

All pilgrims are required to have their negative PCR test result and vaccination cards 72 hours before flying to Saudi Arabia.

40,000 Iranians will perform Hajj this year.

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