Cairo: Saudi Arabia health authorities have expanded the list of vaccines against COVID-19 to include two Chinese-made vaccines.
According to the Health Ministry, the vaccines now recognised in the kingdom are Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Sinopharm, and Sinovac.
The ministry said those fully inoculated with the Chinese-manufactured vaccines Sinopharm and Sinovac could be accepted in the kingdom provided the recipient has obtained a booster dose of one of the other vaccines approved in Saudi Arabia. The step is set to benefit thousands of migrant workers who have received the Chinese shots in their home countries.
The Saudi Interior Ministry announced Tuesday allowing direct entry of fully vaccinated expatriates to return to the kingdom from countries with which flights had earlier been suspended.
The expatriate returnees must have obtained two doses of vaccine against COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia before they left it.
The countries with which Saudi Arabia had earlier suspended flights due to COVID-19 concerns are India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, the UAE, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Lebanon.
