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Govt seeks support from Islamic organizations on COVID-19 vaccine halal status
A leading expert at the Executive Office of the President (KSP), Rumadi Ahmad, has urged Muslims not to get easily provoked by anti-vaccine movements claiming that the vaccine currently being developed is non-halal.
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A medical worker at a community health center in Tapos, Depok, West Java, conducts a COVID-19 vaccination simulation on Oct. 21. Depok is expected to be among the regions with the earliest access to the vaccine due to its high level of COVID-19 transmission. (JP/P.J. Leo)
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he government has cooperated with various Islamic organizations to support the future nationwide COVID-19 vaccination program, which it seeks to begin in November or December, amid uncertainty over the vaccine's halal status.
A leading expert at the Executive Office of the President (KSP), Rumadi Ahmad, has urged Muslims not to get easily provoked by anti-vaccine movements claiming that the vaccine currently being developed is non-halal.
"Don't be easily provoked by such claims before related bodies have made official statements [on the vaccine's halal status]. The government has cooperated with various [Islamic] organizations to ensure there is enough information on COVID-19 vaccines," Rumadi said in a statement on Thursday.
Rumadi said the vaccination program was in line with Islamic teachings so it should be supported.
"Vaccination is an effort to prevent or even cure a disease. [...] Prophet Muhammad said every ailment has its remedy, but we need to actively search for the cure, it would not come to us by itself," he said.
Rumadi, who is also the head of Nahdlatul Ulama's Institute for Research and Human Resources Development (Lakpesdam), said he was sure that ulemas would still support the vaccination program even if the vaccine halal status was still uncertain.
He said in an emergency or life threatening situation, when no other halal cure was available, Islamic teaching allowed the use of non-halal substances.
"Islam values and protects lives. So I am sure Indonesian ulemas would understand that and would give directions that could make [the lives of muslims in the country] easy, not difficult," he said.
Previously, Vice President and senior Muslim cleric Ma’ruf Amin, who is the chair of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), had said the COVID-19 vaccine currently being prepared by the government did not have to be halal.
Vice presidential spokesperson Masduki Baidowi said Maruf’s statement came during a meeting with Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan about the progress of the vaccine currently being developed by Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac in partnership with state-owned pharmaceutical firm PT Bio Farma.
“The vice president explained an important thing: If the vaccine is halal then that’s good, there’s no problem, but if it is not halal it’s also not a problem,” Masduki said in a statement on Friday. “Because it’s an emergency situation it’s okay to use [a non-halal vaccine].”
Earlier in August, however, the vice president urged Bio Farma to ensure that the much-anticipated COVID-19 vaccine had halal certification before being distributed.
Bio Farma is currently running final-stage clinical trials of a vaccine developed by Sinovac, while Jakarta-based PT Kalbe Farma is working with South Korea’s Genexine on another candidate. (nal)
Editor’s note: This article is part of a public campaign by the COVID-19 task force to raise people’s awareness about the pandemic.
