The Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) on Friday announced that the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by the Chinese company Sinovac is suitable for Muslim believers.
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The MUI Fatwas Commission Secretary Asrorun Ni'am Sholeh pointed out that the vaccine is "holy" but that his institution will wait for the health authorities to approve the drug to issue the "fatwa", which is a formal ruling on a point of Islamic law given by a qualified legal scholar.
"The MUI will issue its fatwa after the final results of the investigation that the National Food and Drug Control Agency (BPOM) conducts on the vaccine's suitability," he pointed out.
This country, which has 267 million inhabitants and the world's largest Muslim majority, will begin COVID-19 vaccination on January 13 with the inoculation of President Joko Widodo.
The first to receive the vaccine will be 1.3 million health workers and then another 17.4 million public workers between the ages of 18 and 59.
During January, the authorities will receive a second shipment with 1.8 million doses manufactured by Sinovac and the material to produce some 15 million doses in local laboratories.
Indonesia, which expects to complete the inoculation of 181.5 million people by March 2022, also signed purchase agreements with Pfizer and AstraZeneca to purchase some 330 million vaccines.
So far, Indonesia has reported over 798,000 COVID-19 cases and 23,520 related deaths.