One of the World’s Strictest COVID-19 Vaccine Passport Mandates Announced in Saudi Arabia

Unvaccinated individuals to be banned from nearly all public spaces

A man, mask-clad due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, walks past a damaged silo at the Saudi Aramco oil facility in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea city of Jeddah, on Nov. 24, 2020. Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images

Saudi Arabia announced possibly the strictest COVID-19-related restrictions in the world and will ban unvaccinated individuals from nearly all public spaces.

The Saudi Kingdom’s Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs announced this week that starting Aug. 1, unvaccinated people cannot enter malls, shopping areas, markets, and retail stores.