COVID-19: Saudis launch ‘health passport’ service

Cairo: Saudi Arabia today announced launching the “health passport” service with aim of ensuring receiving the two doses of vaccination against COVID-19.

The service was co-launched by Saudi Health Minister Dr Tawfiq Al Rabiah and head of the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) Abdullah Al Ghamdi.

“This service aims at ensuring that a person has completed all doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and has become, if Allah wills, immune against the virus,” Dr Al Rabiah said after receiving his second dose of the vaccine.

The “health passport” service is provided through the smart app Tawakkalna.

“The kingdom is among the first countries that have launched the health passport service provided by SDAIA for the government agencies to help them in serving their customers,” Al Ghamdi said at a press conference with Dr Al Rabiah in Riyadh.

Second dose

The passport is issued after receiving the second dose of the vaccine and introduced into the Health Ministry systems to appear via the Tawakkalna app, Al Ghamdi added.

Last month, Saudi Arabia launched its largest vaccinations against the highly contagious disease after receiving batches of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Registration for the vaccine against the COVID-19 is available for Saudis and expatriates in the kingdom through the smart app “Sehhaty” by visitinghttp://onelink.to/yjc3nj.

Saudi authorities have said the vaccine is provided for free for citizens and foreign residents.