(Changes the title of the official AstraZeneca of Indonesia to the position of director in the spokesperson)
JAKARTA (Reuters) – AstraZeneca said on Sunday that its COVID-19 vaccine did not contain pork-derived ingredients, countering a claim by Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, that the drug violated Islamic law.
Indonesia’s highest Muslim clerical council, Indonesia’s Ulema Council, said on its website on Friday that the vaccine is “haram” because the manufacturing process uses “trypsin from the pig’s pancreas.”
However, the council approved the AstraZeneca vaccine for use in a pandemic emergency.
But AstraZeneca Indonesia’s director, Rizman Abudaeri, said in a statement: “At all stages of the production process, this vector virus vaccine does not use or come into contact with pork or other animal products.”
The council and the country’s food and drug agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Indonesian authorities on Friday approved the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine after analyzing reports that it caused blood clots among some beneficiaries in Europe.
Indonesia is facing one of the worst outbreaks of coronavirus in Asia – with 1,455,788 cases and 39,447 deaths since Saturday.
(The story goes back to the change of the title of the official AstraZeneca Indonesia to the director of the spokesperson)
Reporting by Nilufar Rizki; Written by Fathin Ungku; Mountainous of William Mallard