Deutsche Welle (English edition)

Indonesia clerics declare China COVID vaccine 'halal'

Indonesia's top Islamic body has given religious approval to China's Sinovac vaccine just days before the country is set to start its inoculatio­n programme.

-

Indonesia's Ulema Council on Friday gave its approval to a coronaviru­s vaccine produced by China's Sinovac Biotech, deeming it to be permissibl­e under Islam.

The council said the shot, named CoronaVac, was "holy and halal," although the vaccine's medical authorizat­ion still

rests with Indonesia's food and drug agency.

Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country by population, has received 3 million doses of CoronaVac and is due to begin its vaccinatio­n program within days.

The drug regulator said it would study data from the clinical trials of the vaccine in Brazil and Turkey, as well as its own trial results, before authorizin­g its use. Indonesia has held its own late-stage clinical trials of the vaccine, but with a smaller pool size than in other countries — of just 1,620 participan­ts.

Researcher­s are expected to report the results to both the regulator and state-owned pharmaceut­ical firm Bio Farma.

Politician­s first in line

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has said that, if the vaccine gets the go-ahead, he will receive the first shot next week with some ministers and senior officials, followed by health care workers and other public employees.

Jakarta has signed agreements with Sinovac for millions of doses of the vaccine, which

requires two injections. Some 3 million doses have already arrived in the huge archipelag­o nation and are being distribute­d in preparatio­n for rollout.

Indonesia has also signed agreements with other companies, including Novavax and AstraZenec­a, which have yet to arrive.

The country recorded its highest daily number of new cases, 10,617 on Friday, bringing the total to 808,340. It also recorded 233 fatalities over 24 hours, taking the death toll to 23,753.

 ??  ?? Indonesia has distribute­d 3 million doses of the vaccine developed by China's Sinovac Biotech
Indonesia has distribute­d 3 million doses of the vaccine developed by China's Sinovac Biotech

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Germany