The Indonesian Ulema council said on Friday that JAKARTA (Reuters) – a COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Sinovac Biotech, was considered halal or permissible, the Indonesian Ulema council said on Friday, days before the country with its vaccination program would begin with the Chinese vaccination.
Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim majority country, has 3 million doses of CoronaVac and plans to use it when it launches its vaccination program on Wednesday, with President Joko Widodo receiving the first shot.
Asrorun Niam Sholeh of the council’s fatwa commission said at a news conference that Sinovac’s CoronaVac is “sacred and halal”, although the authority to use it still rests with the Food and Drug Administration (BPOM) of Indonesia.
“It could be the information that people, especially Muslims, can soothe,” Niam said.
Indonesia is struggling with the worst COVID-19 epidemic in Southeast Asia and authorities are relying on a vaccine to help alleviate the health and economic crises plaguing the country.
This confirms a record daily increase in COVID-19 cases for the third consecutive day on Friday, in which more than 10,000 daily infections are reported for the first time and in those cases the 800,000 mark, among the highest number in Asia.
10,617 new infections were reported on Friday, bringing the total number of cases to 808,340. It recorded 23,753 deaths.
Regulator BPOM said it was hopeful that emergency use approval for CoronaVac, which depends on the results of the vaccine’s Indonesian trials, would be issued before Wednesday.
CoronaVac was 78% effective in a late-stage Brazilian trial without serious COVID-19 cases, researchers said Thursday.
(Reporting by Stanley Widianto and Agustinus Beo Da Costa; Editing by Martin Petty)