The highest Muslim body in Indonesia is expected to issue a halal certificate for the experimental Coronavirus vaccine developed by China based Sinovac Biotech. The Indonesian Ulema Council Halal Product Guarantee Agency and Institute for the Assessment of Food, Drugs and Cosmetics has completed its study and a fatwa and halal certification is expected soon, Human Development and Culture Minister Muhadjir Effendy told the media.
“The government will provide a vaccine that is proven safe and passes clinical trials under World Health Organization recommendations,” said Minister of Health of Indonesia Putranto. The Halal certification for the experimental COVID-19 vaccine, should its usage be approved, would prove to be crucial in strengthening the immunization process in Indonesia, which is the world’s most populous Muslim majority country.
Around 1.2 million doses of the experimental Coronavirus vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech arrived in Indonesia on Sunday but Hermawan Saputra of the Indonesian Public Health Expert Association said that it will be enough for only 600,000 people as each person requires two doses. “It does not really have significant meaning. The government should guarantee that there will be enough to for distribution to the entire country,” he said.
According to Saputra, if the experimental Coronavirus vaccine passes the third phase of the clinical trials, then the immunisation process could begin by the middle of next year.
Islamic opposition to vaccines
Islamic fundamentalists have regularly opposed vaccines which has hurt the immunization process with respect to various other significant ailments. Most significantly, immunization against Polio has suffered greatly due to opposition from Islamic fundamentalists. Not only in India and the Indian subcontinent, but the same phenomenon has been observed in African countries as well.
Most recently, a Pakistani ‘expert’ has claimed that Coronavirus vaccines are part of a nefarious agenda of Bill Gates and the World economic Forum to turn humans into slaves and feed them lab made meat.