Full Covid-19 vaccination not required when Muhyiddin went to Saudi Arabia, says aide

PETALING JAYA: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and his delegation, who were in Saudi Arabia last year, received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine before travelling, says his aide.

Mohd Naaim Mahmod, the special officer of the former prime minister, said allegations made by Ustaz Abu Syafiq that they were not vaccinated for Covid-19 or meningococcal meningitis when they went there to perform the umrah in March last year were untrue.

"Muhyiddin and the entire delegation received their first Covid-19 vaccine dose before leaving for Saudi Arabia and received their second dose when they came back, while the meningococcal meningitis vaccine was not compulsory.

"Back then, the Malaysian and the Saudi Arabian governments did not impose any conditions that require complete Covid-19 vaccination or any other vaccination for travellers to Saudi Arabia," he said in a statement on Friday (Jan 14).

Mohd Naaim added that Muhyiddin's official working visit as the eighth prime minister to Saudi Arabia was at the invitation of the Saudi Arabian government and subject to strict standard operating procedures, including a RT-PCR test, before, during and after the visit.

He also said the RT-PCR Covid-19 tests for the entire delegation were negative.

"The movement of the delegation in Saudi Arabia was also tightly controlled by authorities and had a set travel bubble," he said.