Saudi Arabia Now Has The World's Toughest Vaccine Rules

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 immunization rules in the world on August 1.

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 immunization 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% compared to a pre-pandemic baseline, versus 50% 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 criminalizes dissent, implementation hasn't been easy.