Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador in Pakistan Nawaf Saeed Al-Malky met with Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah at the Chief Minister House on Friday and assured that they would incorporate Chinese-manufactured vaccines in its list of approved shots for visitors to the Kingdom.
On Thursday, Federal Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Minister Asad Umar said that citizens intending to go for Hajj this year would be given a shot of Pfizer — an American Covid-19 vaccine brand rather than the Chinese ones available.
Stressing on the fact that the World Health Organization (WHO) has also approved China’s Sinovac vaccine, the chief minister asked the envoy to allow the Chinese vaccine to be administered to Hajj pilgrims as well as it was one of the leading ones to be administered to the majority of Pakistani citizens.
Previously, Saudi Arabia was not accepting Chinese vaccines for visitors intending to perform Hajj and Umrah, thus “causing disappointment among the people of Pakistan.”
According to reports, the vaccines allowed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson.
In their meeting today, the chief minister urged the Saudi ambassador to review the vaccine list. The ambassador assured that Saudi Arabia would approve the Chinese vaccine as well.
The visiting delegation comprised a team of doctors from King Salman Medical Complex. The ambassador informed that the doctors would set up medical camps in Karachi and Shikarpur to treat poor patients.