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Govt promises to add halal vaccine to booster program
Indonesia will offer halal-certified vaccines under the state-led immunization drive to appease its Muslim-majority citizens.
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An elementary school pupil receives Sinovac's COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine in Surabaya, East Java on Jan. 18, 2022. (AFP/Juni Kriswanto)
T
he Health Ministry has announced that it will add one of the more widely available COVID-19 vaccines with halal certification to the state-led booster jab rollout, in an effort to assuage the concerns of the country’s Muslim majority.
A ministry official confirmed on Tuesday that it would add the CoronaVac vaccine, co-manufactured by state-run pharmaceuticals company BioFarma and China’s Sinovac Biotech, to its current roster of booster shot offerings.
The decision was made following a recent Supreme Court ruling calling on the government to offer halal-certified vaccines, to ensure that its many Muslim recipients have the option of getting faith-approved protections.
Ministry spokeswoman Siti Nadia Tarmizi told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that her office had begun to redistribute its stockpile of Sinovac vaccines across the country, after saying on Monday that the government would “respect the Supreme Court’s decision” requiring halal vaccines to be offered in the state vaccination program.
“For members of the public who feel more comfortable using Sinovac, we will open up the opportunity to use it as a booster vaccine option,” she said.
There are currently around 7 million Sinovac vaccines in the national stockpile, with Siti noting that they would gradually be available as a booster option in the near future.
In spite of its shortcomings, Indonesia’s COVID-19 response has been met by wide praise, in no small part thanks to the government’s swift procurement of vaccines from a variety of foreign manufacturers.
