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Saudi Arabia says COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for Hajj 2021. It has so far approved four types of COVID vaccines for the aspirant pilgrims to the Hajj this year. These include Pfizer/BioNTech, Oxford/AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson’s. However, there are reports that a few countries are pressing the Saudi Government to approve Chinese and Russian vaccines as well?
The prospective pilgrims must follow the detailed instructions given by the Saudi government to be able to enter the kingdom. They need to follow these instructions to get a visa for the Hajj. They must have completed both doses of the vaccine and could only depart for Saudi Arabia 14 days after the second dose.
Taking into account the vaccination time interval, the pilgrims would need five weeks to complete both doses of the vaccine to comply with the requirements set to perform the Hajj this year. The Haj visas will be issued between June 20 and 30 this year.Due to the stringent conditions stipulated by the Saudi government and the minimum time required to complete the vaccination process for both the dozes, many people may not be able to get visas.
A furada visa is a Haj pilgrimage visa obtained directly from the Saudi Arabia Embassy through certain Saudi agencies. The visa is separate from the Haj pilgrimage quota for a country and is issued at the last minute depending on availability.
The prospective pilgrims should get detailed instructions from approved travel agents and relevant authorities to obtain their visas.
Recently, Indonesia had cancelled hajj for its pilgrims due to the COVID-19 concerns.
Having a coronavirus vaccine is a must in order to participate in this year’s Hajj. So far, Saudi Government has approved four different vaccines for aspirant pilgrims. Although, a few countries like Pakistan and Malaysia have been urging the Saudi government to approve Chinese and Russian vaccines as well. However, due to time constraints, many prospective pilgrims may not be able to completely follow the detailed instructions given by the kingdom.
CREDITS – THE HALAL TIMES
