Saudi Arabia bans Haj pilgrims injected with Chinese vaccines over safety issues

The rising doubts over the efficacy of China-manufactured Covid-19 vaccines have once again seen China’s credibility at being risk as Saudi Arabia has denied entry to Pakistani Haj pilgrims that are vaccinated with Chinese jabs. Sinopharm and Sinovac are the two major Chinese vaccines that could not make it to the list of approved jabs prepared by the Saudi Arabia government. Pakistan has vaccinated its population mostly by China-manufactured vaccines, and three of the six vaccines in use are from China.

Despite several requests from Pakistani leaders, Saudi Arabia has not approved Chinese jabs, causing a wave of disappointment in Pakistan. Now, prospective pilgrims from Pakistan are seeking clarification from the Imran Khan government, thus forcing it to contemplate dumping Chinese jabs and administer vaccines like Pfizer to Hajj pilgrims.

The number of Pakistani people taking the pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia has seen a sharp increase in the recent past. Pakistan is the second nation after Egypt that sends a maximum number of Haj pilgrims every year.  Saudi Arabia too increased the number of Pakistani Haj pilgrims by 5,000 to 184,210 in 2019 following the higher demand.  Moreover, the country topped the list of nations that sent the highest number of Umrah pilgrims to Saudi Arabia in 2019. 7 Saudi Arabia has appeared firm on its decision not to allow Pakistani pilgrims injected with Chinese vaccines. It has cleared that such Pakistanis will have to undergo mandatory quarantine upon their arrival in Saudi Arabia and the required expenses will have to be borne by the pilgrims.

It has put Pakistani authorities in a fix.


There have been concerns about China-manufactured vaccines worldwide including in Pakistan, which was among the first countries to receive Chinese jabs. Islamabad government had turned doubtful days after it received the Chinese vaccines. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan had revealed that the Chinese vaccine was not recommended for people aged over 60. Half of the health workers in Pakistan had refused to take the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm over safety concerns even as they were showed readiness to take the Pfizer vaccine.

A survey showed medical workers being skeptical of the Chinese vaccine since it was developed too fast and China being not a brand synonymous with medical innovation.


There are reasons for Saudi Arabia to be doubtful about the efficacy and safety of Chinese vaccines. Its neighbour Bahrain has started giving booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to the country’s
population, which is already vaccinated with China-manufactured vaccines. While the UAE was among the firsts to use Chinese jabs is now administering the third dose of Sinopharm to its citizens due to the Chinese-made vaccines have failed to develop enough protective antibodies.

Even Chinese scientists too have agreed to the fact. George Gao, who heads the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention accepted that the efficacy of the China-made shots was "not
high" and needed improvements.


Now Pakistan government is planning to administer a dose of Pfizer to prospective Haj pilgrims, who have already been given Sinopharm shots.  However, doctors in Pakistan have advised against mixing up
vaccines.  Dr Iftikharuddin, a senior epidemiologist in Pakistan, cautioned people not to get two different vaccines due to a lack of scientific research data. Even Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan holding direct talks with the Saudi Arabian authorities to approve
 
Chinese vaccines has not been fruitful yet. The development comes as a big setback for Haj pilgrims from Pakistan as well as China itself, which has been using its vaccines as a diplomatic tool to earn goodwill in the
world. Latin American countries like Chile, Uruguay, and island nation Seychelles have seen rising Covid-19 cases despite most of the population having been injected with Chinese vaccines. China-manufactured jabs have been found to be far less effective at controlling the disease than the other vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna. This comes as a big shock for these countries since the failure of Chinese vaccines to control Covid-19 not only put public health at risk but impact their economy as well.