Saudi Gazette report

DAMMAM — Those who have completed two doses of Sinopharma and Sinovac vaccines need to take booster dose of a Saudi approved vaccine as a prerequisite to enter the Kingdom.

This condition is contained in the updates of the regulations issued by the Saudi health authorities, it was announced by the King Fahd Causeway Authority on Sunday.

According to the updates of health regulations, those who have received two doses of Sinopharma and Sinovac vaccines should take the booster dose of either any one of the approved vaccines such as Pfizer, Astrazeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna.

Another condition that needs to be followed is that a PCR test needs to be taken within 72 hours of arrival in the Kingdom.

The new move comes amid growing concern that COVID-19 vaccines being deployed across much of the developing world aren’t capable of thwarting the Delta variant and that has prompted some countries to look at offering third doses to bolster immunity against more-infectious virus strains.

According to reports, health authorities of countries such as United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have decided to offer the extra doses to some people already inoculated with vaccines from Chinese makers Sinovac Biotech and Sinopharm.