Covid-19: Saudi Arabia now has the world's toughest vaccine rules

A security guard stands at the entrance to every mall in Saudi Arabia’s capital, ready for a pandemic routine shoppers are getting used to: proving their vaccination status on a government phone app that tracks their location at all times.

A dystopia for opponents of vaccine requirements from the United States to France is already a reality in Saudi Arabia, which enacted what amount to some of the strictest immunisation rules in the world on August 1. 

As the highly-contagious Delta variant of Covid-19 sends other countries back into lockdown, officials in the world’s largest crude exporter are counting on a strategy that makes vaccination all-but mandatory to keep their economy open. That’s made the nation of 35 million a test case in what happens when people who are reluctant to get inoculated are pushed into a corner.

So far, the policy’s working; vaccine uptake has soared since the rules were announced, new cases are declining and Google mobility data shows workplace visits are down just 6 per cent compared to a pre-pandemic baseline, versus 50 per cent in Greater London. But Saudi Arabia’s experience also shows the limits of policies that exclude the unvaccinated from offices, schools and most public places; even in an absolute monarchy that criminalises dissent, implementation hasn’t been easy.  “The government is forcing it on citizens -- this is complete slavery,” said 23-year-old Rawan, an unemployed law graduate who took one dose but doesn’t want a second because she’s worried about long-term side effects. 

Few countries have imposed restrictions as tight as those in Saudi Arabia, where refusal to vaccinate can block shoppers from grocery stores, prevent 12-year-olds from attending school, stop citizens from traveling abroad and cost workers their jobs in every sector.