Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH – Saudi Arabia has so far granted approval for nine COVID-19 vaccines for traveling into the country, according to the Ministry of Health.

People who have received the required doses of Pfizer, Moderna, Oxford AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson, Sinopharm, Sinovac, Covaxin, Sputnik and Covovax can now travel into the Kingdom.

The ministry clarified the mechanism for submitting requests for approval of coronavirus vaccines that were taken outside the Kingdom in order to activate them on the Tawakkalna app. It emphasized that this service can be obtained by submitting a request, which begins with filling up the form.

The concerned authorities will subject the request to review before taking a decision on the matter. If the request is accepted, the specified vaccine will be linked to the Tawakkalna app.

The ministry pointed out that it is not possible to submit a new application when an existing application is under review. The application may take up to five working days to complete the entire process.

The ministry has set a number of requirements to accept the request for registration of vaccinations taken outside the Kingdom. The applicant will have a national ID or resident ID or visitor ID. A copy of the passport and a copy of the vaccination certificate shall be attached. The documents shall be uploaded in the system in PDF format.

The ministry said that the vaccination certificate shall have the following requirements: Personal data shall be entered in the certificate. It must be in one of the following languages: Arabic, English or French, and in case of any other language, a certified Arabic translation must be attached.

The certificate must clearly contain the name of the vaccine, its date and batch number.