Covid-19 vaccination a must for 2021 Hajj: Saudi ministry

ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia’s health ministry has ruled that only people who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 will be allowed to attend the Hajj this year.

According to a Saudi newspaper Okaz, the health ministry has made Covid-19 vaccination mandatory for those willing to come to the Hajj and will be one of the main conditions for receiving a permit to come.

Saudi Arabia stakes its reputation on its guardianship of Islam’s holiest sites in Makkah and Medina and its peaceful organisation of the Hajj. In 2020, the kingdom dramatically reduced the number of pilgrims to around 1,000 to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, after barring Muslims abroad from the rite for the first time in modern times.

Hajj is a once-in-a-lifetime duty for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it.