Saudi travel: Polio vaccine mandatory for passengers flying from Pakistan for Umrah
Passengers travelling from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia have been advised to get the polio vaccine and get the certificate stamped from a government or private hospital.
This new decision will apply to passengers travelling to the Kingdom on Umrah, as well as visit/tourist and business visas.
Pakistan's private carrier Airblue said Iqama holders and Saudi nationals are exempted from this condition when they enter the Gulf country.
'Passengers are required to receive either an IPV (Inactivated Polio Vaccine) dose within the last 12 months or an OPV (Oral Polio Vaccine) dose within the last six months, both at least four weeks before arriving in Saudi Arabia,' the airline said on social media platform X.
This is in effect from February 10, 2025.
Over the past couple of days, hundreds of Umrah pilgrims were offloaded from the aircraft at Lahore' Allama Iqbal International Airport for not being vaccinated with the polio vaccine.
Millions of Pakistanis travel to Saudi Arabia annually for the pilgrimage through different carriers. Now, they will have to make preparations well in advance to ensure that they're compliant with the new vaccine regulation.
scraping the meningitis vaccine requirement for Umrah travellers.
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