The letter with one sentence did not say much. The coronavirus vaccine was ‘manufactured free of pork’, Sinovac, the Chinese vaccine manufacturer, wrote to Indonesia’s state information maker in July.
While the letter was promising, Indonesian clergymen needed more details. A vaccine with the smallest amount of pork DNA could deter some followers of Islam from vaccination in Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in the world. Sinovac took months to provide more information, which only came this week.
The Chinese company’s delayed response was another challenge in Indonesia’s already fragile vaccination. With the highest number of coronavirus infections in Southeast Asia, the country is eager to gain support for its goal of vaccinating 181.5 million adults within 15 months. But threatening questions about the safety of the Sinovac vaccine and whether it is halal, or allowed under Islam, complicate the government’s efforts.
“There should be no concern whether this vaccine is halal or not,” President Joko Widodo said. “We are in an emergency situation due to the Covid pandemic.”
Indonesia has reported nearly 800,000 infections and more than 23,000 deaths, which is unbelievably large in a region where virus cases have remained relatively low. Vaccinations will begin in the coming weeks with health workers, soldiers and police officers, once the health authorities are satisfied that the Sinovac vaccine is safe and effective.
Mr. Joko said he would first go show that there was nothing to fear.
The vaccine must also undergo a separate approval process by the Ulema Council, an influential group of Muslim clerics who decide which products are halal in Indonesia.
Islamic authorities in other countries where Muslims make up a significant portion of the population, including Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, have already ruled that coronavirus vaccines are permissible, even if they contain pork gelatin, which is used to stabilize many vaccinations.
Last month, the Vatican released a statement stating that coronavirus vaccines are “morally acceptable” to Catholics, possibly against a vaccine developed with stem cells from fetuses aborted decades ago.
Indonesians are still waiting for religious leaders.
“In pharmaceutical products, halal is one of the most important elements to the safety, efficacy and quality of the vaccine itself,” said Bambang Heriyanto, a spokesperson for Bio Farma, the state-owned vaccine manufacturer.
The Ulema council is expected to issue a decision, or fatwa, in the coming weeks authorizing the use of the Sinovac vaccine, but the nature of its findings could affect how widely it is accepted in Indonesia, especially among the country. ‘s numerous conservative Muslims.
During a measles outbreak in 2018, the government, supported by the World Health Organization, undertook an ambitious vaccination program, but the only vaccine available in sufficient quantities contained pork products.
After analyzing the measles vaccine, the Ulema council declared it haram, or banned under Islam, but its use was allowed because the outbreak is an emergency.
In some parts of the country, however, local Muslim leaders have opposed the use of a haram vaccine. The program did not reach the 95 percent target and ended with nearly 10 million children not vaccinated. Only 72 percent of the target group was vaccinated.
On billboards above the busy streets of Jakarta, the capital, a woman with a face mask and headscarf can be seen bending her arm while images of the coronavirus float nearby. Thousands of such billboards and banners have been erected along long roads across the country. The message: Vaccines protect you.
To encourage widespread vaccinations, some governments have also enacted new laws that make it possible to punish people who refuse to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Covid19 vaccines>
Answers to your vaccine questions
With the spread of a coronavirus vaccine starting in the US, here are answers to a number of questions you can ask yourself:
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- If I live in the United States, when can I get the vaccine? Although the exact order of vaccine recipients may vary by state, medical workers and residents of long-term care institutions are likely to be first. If you want to understand how this decision is made, this article will help.
- When can I return to normal life after being vaccinated? Life will only become normal when society as a whole gets enough protection against the coronavirus. Once countries approve a vaccine, they will be able to vaccinate at most a few percent of their citizens in the first few months. The unvaccinated majority will still be vulnerable to infection. A growing number of coronavirus vaccines provide strong protection against getting sick. But it is also possible for people to spread the virus without even knowing they are infected, because they experience only mild symptoms or not at all. Scientists do not yet know whether the vaccination also blocks the transmission of the coronavirus. For the time being, even vaccinated people will have to wear masks, crowds inside, and so on. Must avoid. Once enough people are vaccinated, it will be very difficult for the coronavirus to find vulnerable people who can become infected. Depending on how quickly we as a society reach the goal, life may begin by the fall of 2021 to approach something as normal.
- Do I still have to wear a mask if I have been vaccinated? Yes, but not forever. Here’s why. The coronavirus vaccines are injected deep into the muscles and stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies. This appears to be adequate protection to prevent the vaccinated person from becoming ill. What is not clear, however, is whether it is possible that the virus can flower in the nose – and that he or she is exhaled to infect others – even if antibodies are mobilized elsewhere in the body to prevent the vaccinated person from becoming ill. word. The clinical trials with vaccinations are designed to determine whether people being vaccinated are protected against disease – not to find out if they can still spread the coronavirus. Based on studies on flu vaccine and even patients infected with Covid-19, researchers have reason to hope that people who have been vaccinated will not spread the virus, but more research is needed. Meanwhile, everyone – even vaccinated people – will have to think of themselves as possible silent distributors and continue to wear a mask. Read more here.
- Will it hurt? What are the side effects? The Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine is delivered like a shot in the arm, like other typical vaccines. The injection into your arm will not feel any different than any other vaccine, but the rate of transient side effects may seem higher than a flu shot. Tens of thousands of people have already received the vaccinations, and none of them have reported serious health problems. The side effects, which may look like the symptoms of Covid-19, last for about a day and seem more likely after the second dose. Early reports of vaccination trials suggest that some people may have to take a day off from work because they feel unwell after receiving the second dose. In the Pfizer study, about half developed fatigue. Other side effects occurred in at least 25 to 33 percent of patients, sometimes more, including headaches, chills, and muscle aches. Although these experiences are not pleasant, it is a good sign that your immune system is getting a powerful response to the vaccine that will provide long-lasting immunity.
- Will mRNA vaccines change my genes? No. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines use a genetic molecule to replenish the immune system. That molecule, known as mRNA, is eventually destroyed by the body. The mRNA is packaged in an oily bubble that can fuse with a cell so that the molecule can slide. The cell uses the mRNA to make proteins from the coronavirus, which can stimulate the immune system. Each of our cells can contain hundreds of thousands of mRNA molecules at any one time that they produce to make their own proteins. Once those proteins are made, our cells cut the mRNA with special enzymes. The mRNA molecules that make up our cells can only survive for a few minutes. The mRNA in vaccines is designed to resist the cells’ enzymes a little longer, allowing the cells to make extra viral proteins and trigger a stronger immune response. But the mRNA can only take a few days at most before being destroyed.
“The government will ensure that the vaccine is safe and effective, has minimal side effects and is naturally halal,” said Wiku Adisasmito, spokesman for the national task force Covid-19. “Regional governments will have the authority to make people obedient and participate in the vaccination program so that herd immunity can be easily achieved.”
With a population of 270 million, Indonesia hopes to bring about herd immunity by vaccinating about two-thirds of the population in just over a year. President Joko said on Tuesday he hopes it can be done even faster.
Indonesia has ordered vaccines from several companies, but plans to rely mostly on Sinovac, which has already delivered three million doses. It is the only vaccine that has arrived in the country so far.
Bio Farma plans to manufacture 122.5 million extra doses using raw materials supplied by Sinovac.
Like other countries, Indonesia is eagerly awaiting data from Phase 3 trials so that its food and drug control agency can evaluate the safety of Sinovac’s vaccination. Months ago, China began administering the Sinovac vaccine and one made by a second company, Sinopharm, although human trials have not been completed.
Sinovac is expected to announce the findings of its late-stage trials soon, with the approval of the Chinese government to follow suit. But China rarely comes across its vaccine data and has a history of producing faulty vaccines and contaminated food products. In 2018, a scandal erupted over substandard doses of a vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, and over fabricated data for a rabies vaccine.
In Indonesia, a nationwide survey conducted in September by the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization and Unicef found that health issues are even more worrying than a coronavirus vaccine being halal.
Dicky Budiman, an Indonesian epidemiologist at Griffith University in Australia, asked China to release scientific data on the vaccinations so that Indonesia could evaluate the safety and efficacy of the vaccines.
“Transparency is one of the biggest challenges for China, especially with their vaccines,” he said. “This is an important time for China to show the world how they have improved the quality of their vaccines.”
The Ulema council said it had repeatedly asked Sinovac to establish documentation on the material in the vaccine. He is prepared to announce his decision after Indonesia has determined that the vaccine is safe and effective.
At the Global Halal Center near Jakarta, the council operates laboratories in biotechnology, physics, chemistry and microbiology that it recently used to test Sinovac’s vaccine for pork products.
The labs can test 500,000 product samples a year, analyzed Muti Arintawati, director of the council’s agency for food, drugs and cosmetics. The council, founded in 1975 by representatives of large Islamic groups, has the power to certify whether products and medicines meet Islamic standards in Indonesia. Companies pay from $ 180 to $ 780 for the certification.
Major Islamic groups such as Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, who together have 140 million members, will take part in the effort to encourage the vaccine once it has been deemed safe and a fatwa has been issued.
“We will provide an explanation from the perspective of Islamic law so that people are prepared to be vaccinated,” said Ahmad Ishomuddin, Nahdlatul Ulama’s supreme leader. “I think only a small number of people will reject it because the protection of life is an important purpose of religion.”
Dera Menra Sijabat and Muktita Suhartono reported.