Preacher: Anti-vaxxers must show proof of non-halal elements
KUALA LUMPUR: A preacher, who is the head imam for the Layangan Mosque in Labuan, has called on anti-vaxxers to stop spreading misleading information about Covid-19 vaccines.
Muhammad Shafei Abdul Ghani, who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at the Membedai Health Clinic in Labuan yesterday with others, said there should not be any dispute over the vaccination when the number of fatalities due to the pandemic was increasing.
“We must make an effort to curb the spread of this pandemic. This is in line with Islamic teachings, which stress that it is our obligation to take preventive measures against the spread of contagious diseases.
“Anti-vaxxers cannot simply reject the vaccines by saying that they contain non-halal elements, unless the group has concrete evidence to support their claim,” he said.
On Friday, Labuan acting police chief Deputy Superintendent Mohd Ibrahim Mohd Ghani said action would be taken against any person or group who used social media to spread misinformation about the Covid-19 National Immunisation Programme.
He said anyone convicted of spreading anti-vaccine propaganda and misleading information could be jailed up to two years or fined, or both, under Section 505 (b) of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) 1998. Bernama