No vaccine risk to Ramadan

HEALTHCARE staff have been reminded to assure Muslim employees that it is safe to receive Covid-19 inoculations while fasting.

The month of Ramadan begins on April 12 and concludes in May.

The NHS Race and Health Observatory said it had been made aware of a number of enquiries related to vaccine uptake during the holy month, as well concerns around the act of inoculation breaking the fast.

Many doubts centred around any potential side effects of feeling unwell post the vaccination and over taking daily pain relief medication after the jab.

The director of the observatory, Dr Habib Naqvi, said, “There is no reason why a first or second dose vaccine cannot be administered during Ramadan. The content is halal, and receiving it will not invalidate the fast, as per Islamic scholars.”

He added: “We do not want to put these communities at unnecessary risk by not accepting their first or second dose of the vaccination if offered.”

An estimated 3.3 per cent of the 1.4 million NHS workforce are from a Muslim background.