Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – People who have received their hajj permits for this year’s pilgrimage should visit their nearest vaccine center to receive their second jab within 48 hours of the permit being issued, the Kingdom’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has said.

The Saudi government allows only 60,000 people, consisting of citizens and residents of the Kingdom, to perform the 1442 hijri/2021 hajj. The ministry’s portal received more than 550,000 applications before registration closed last Wednesday (June 23).

Pilgrims should either be fully vaccinated, have had one dose at least 14 days before hajj, or be vaccinated after recovering from a coronavirus infection.

The ministry urged people with permits to get vaccinated, assuring them that no appointment was needed.

Saudi Arabia’s Food and Drug Authority also approved the use of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for ages 12-18.

More than 17.2 million vaccine doses have been administered in Saudi Arabia so far, Ministry of Health’s spokesman Dr. Mohammed Al-Abd Al-Aly said, adding that that nobody had died from COVID-19 after completing the vaccination course.

Reporting by Indonesia Window