JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – In October, Indonesian diplomats and Muslim clerics left a plane in China. While diplomats were there to finalize transactions to ensure that millions of doses reached Indonesian citizens, clergy had a very different concern: whether the COVID-19 vaccine was allowed to be used in accordance with Islamic law.
As companies struggle to develop a COVID-19 vaccine and countries struggle to secure doses, questions about the use of pork products – banned by some religious groups – have raised concerns about the potential to disrupt campaigns. immunization.
Pig-derived gelatin has been widely used as a stabilizer to ensure that vaccines remain safe and effective during storage and transport. Some companies have been working for years to develop pig-free vaccines: the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis has produced a vaccine against pig-free meningitis, while AJ Pharma in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia is currently working on its own.
But demand, existing supply chains, the cost and shorter shelf life of vaccines that do not contain swine gelatin mean the ingredient is likely to continue to be used in most vaccines for years, said Dr. Salman Waqar, secretary general. to the British Islamic Medical Association.
Spokesmen for Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca said pork products are not part of COVID-19 vaccines. But the limited supply and pre-existing agreements worth millions of dollars with other companies mean that some countries with large Muslim populations, such as Indonesia, will receive vaccines that have not yet been certified as gelatin-free.
This poses a dilemma for religious communities, including Orthodox Jews and Muslims, in which the consumption of pork products is considered religiously unclean and how the ban is applied to medicines, he said.
“There is a difference of opinion between Islamic scholars if you take something like pork gelatin and subject it to a rigorous chemical transformation,” Waqar said. “Is it still considered religiously unclean to take it?”
The majority consensus in previous debates on the use of pork gelatin in vaccines is that it is allowed under Islamic law, because “greater harm” would occur if vaccines were not used, said Dr. Harunor Rashid, an associate professor at the University. from Sydney.
There is a similar assessment by a broad consensus of religious leaders in the Orthodox Jewish community.
“According to Jewish law, the prohibition of the consumption of pork or the consumption of pork is forbidden only when it is a natural way to eat it,” said Rabbi David Stav, president of Tzohar, a rabbinic organization in Israel.
If “it is injected into the body, not (eaten) through the mouth,” then there is “no prohibition and no problem, especially when we are concerned about disease,” he said.
However, there have been opposing views on the issue – some with serious health consequences for Indonesia, which has the largest Muslim population in the world, at around 225 million.
In 2018, the Indonesian Council Ulema, the Muslim clerical body that issues certificates stating that a product is halal or permitted under Islamic law, ruled that measles and rubella vaccines were “haram” or illegal because of gelatin. Religious and community leaders have begun urging parents not to allow their children to be vaccinated.
“Measles cases have subsequently increased, giving Indonesia the third highest rate of measles in the world,” said Rachel Howard, director of the market research group Health Research Partnership.
Subsequently, a decree was issued by the Muslim clerical body saying that the vaccine was allowed to be received, but cultural taboos continued to lead to low rates of continuous vaccination, Howard said.
“Our studies have found that some Muslims in Indonesia feel uncomfortable accepting vaccinations that contain these ingredients,” even when the Muslim authority issues guidelines saying they are allowed, she said.
Governments have taken steps to address the issue. In Malaysia, where the halal status of vaccines has been identified as the biggest problem Among Muslim parents, stricter laws have been enacted, so parents must vaccinate their children or be punished with fines and imprisonment. In Pakistan, where confidence in vaccines has fallen for religious and political reasons, the parents were imprisoned for refusing to vaccinate children against polio.
But as vaccine hesitation and misinformation spread around the globe, including in religious communities, Rashid said community engagement was “absolutely necessary.”
“It could be disastrous if there is no strong community commitment from governments and health workers,” he said.
In Indonesia, the government has already said it will include the Muslim clerical body in the process of purchasing and certifying the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Public communication on halal status, price, quality and distribution needs to be well prepared,” Indonesian President Joko Widodo said in October.
While in China in the fall, Indonesian clerics inspected China’s Sinovac Biotech facilities, and clinical trials for the company’s vaccine are underway in Indonesia. The government has announced several offers to purchase the COVID-19 vaccine with the company for a total of millions of doses.
Sinovac Biotech, as well as Chinese companies Sinopharm and CanSino Biologics – which have all COVID-19 vaccines in late-stage clinical trials and sell millions of doses worldwide – have not responded to requests from the Associated Press for information on ingredients.
In China, no COVID-19 vaccine has received final market approval, but more than 1 million health workers and others who were considered at high risk of infection have received vaccines. under emergency use permission. Companies have not yet revealed how effective vaccines or possible side effects are.
Pakistan is conducting clinical trials in the late stages of the CanSino Biologics vaccine. Bangladesh previously had an agreement with Sinovac Biotech to conduct clinical trials in the country, but the studies were delayed due to a funding dispute. Both countries have some of the largest Muslim populations in the world.
While Indonesia’s health workers are still largely engaged in efforts to contain the virus as the number continues to grow, Waqar said government efforts to secure Indonesians will be the key to a successful immunization campaign. , because COVID-19 vaccines are approved for use.
But, he said, vaccine companies must also be part of such community information.
“The more transparent they are, the more open and honest they are about their product, the more likely they are to have communities that trust the product and will be able to have informed discussions about what they want to do,” he said.
“Because, in the end, it’s the choice of individuals.”
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Associated Press writers Edna Tarigan of Jakarta, Indonesia and Ilan Ben Zion of Jerusalem contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press Department of Health and Science receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. AP is solely responsible for all content.