2021 in review: Saudi kingdom maintains anti-pandemic policies in vaccination year

As the pandemic year halted many activities and achievements worldwide; the vaccination year brought more hope to the Saudi economic; educational and social system.

This happened through a number of decisions adopted by the Saudi government bodies in 2021.

Saudi Arabia in 2021 began discovering a new vaccine for the Corona virus "COVID-19"; according to Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia researches.

At the last days of the year; the kingdom decided on reapplication of physical distance between worshippers and pilgrims in the Two Holy Mosques in order to achieve the application of precautionary measures to preserve the health and safety of the pilgrims.

 The country affirmed that the booster dose against Covid-19 would be for entering economic and social activities.

While in November; Saudi government approved inoculating children aged from 5-11 years in the Kingdom with the "Pfizer" vaccine with the health authorities in the Kingdom would then be able to use it for individuals aged 5 years and over.

On May 19; Saudi Arabia launched an electronic portal to register the data of immunized foreigners coming to the Kingdom; to be vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine.

Anti-pandemic policies

The Saudi COVID-19 policy response has been also by fact-checking; health risk assessment and executable firm countermeasure preparedness in addition to the follow-up of the outcomes of the Ministry of Health's Center for Disease Control and Prevention on the COVID-19 outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan which constituted the reason behind the Kingdom's early response to the coronavirus pandemic; citing the issuance of a Royal decree on Jan. 26; 2020; forming a "Higher Committee on Coronavirus Prevention Measures" which comprised of representatives from 20 government agencies.

According to its anti-coronavirus strategy; the Kingdom has relied on its decades-long expertise in dealing with pandemics; crowd control and healthcare; particularly during the Hajj and Umrah seasons; making use of its advanced infrastructure through more than 494 hospitals and healthcare centers across the country.

This also can be referred to the Kingdom's accumulated experience in combating Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2012 and the years after has contributed to boosting the preparedness of hospitals and establishing isolation units for respiratory diseases equipped with specialized ventilation systems to protect doctors from infections.