Saudi Arabia Mandates Vaccination Requirement For All Pilgrims On the Hajj

Pilgrims Worshipping in front of the Ka’aba in Mecca during the 2018 Hajj (Wikipedia)

Saudi Arabia’s health ministry declared that all Muslims traveling to Mecca for the Hajj must be vaccinated against COVID-19 on March 1. The move is designed to prevent the transmission of the Coronavirus among visiting pilgrims. 

The Hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, mandates that every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it must travel to Mecca, Saudi Arabia and pay homage at the Ka’aba (Islam’s holiest site) at least once in their lifetime. However, the Saudi Arabian government severely restricted the number of pilgrims arriving in Mecca for the Hajj in light of the Coronavirus pandemic. As the congregation of millions of pilgrims from around the world presented a huge risk of disease transmission and a potential hotspot for the spread of COVID-19, in 2020 Saudi Arabia declared that the Hajj would effectively be canceled. The kingdom allowed only about 1,000 pilgrims to perform the Hajj last year, and each of those pilgrims were either citizens or residents of Saudi Arabia and had to follow strict social-distancing guidelines. 

This announcement sparked widespread grief throughout the Muslim world and for the millions of Muslims who were forced to cancel their pilgrimages to Mecca. As travel expenses typically total thousands of dollars, a significant number of would-be pilgrims save up money throughout their entire lives in order to pay for the journey. Thus, the restrictions on last year’s Hajj devastated many Muslims financially as well.

The drastic downscaling of the number of pilgrims arriving in Mecca has also hurt Saudi Arabia financially. While the oil-rich kingdom’s economy is largely based on the fossil fuel industry, the Hajj makes up a major source of income for Saudi Arabia as millions of pilgrims arrive in Mecca every year and spend money on hotel rooms, souvenirs, and other travel expenditures. The financial impact of the Hajj on Mecca’s economy is correspondingly massive and one source has pegged the financial boon to the city as worth upwards of $10 billion in 2011 alone. 

With the gradual acceleration of vaccine production around the world, millions of Muslims are hopeful that the Hajj will once again be possible. In preparation for the upcoming arrival of pilgrims in 2021, Saudi Arabia invested in health facilities at designated entry points as well as creating a national committee to oversee the vaccination status of pilgrims. The Saudi health minister Dr. Tawfiq Al-Rabia emphasized the need to “secure the manpower” necessary to operate these facilities in order to ensure a covid-free environment and lower the risk of disease transmission.