MUI Issues Fatwa Allowing AstraZeneca Vaccine In Today's Memory, March 19, 2021

The use of the AstraZeneca vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, England. (ANTARA)

JAKARTA Memories of today, four years ago, March 19, 2021, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) issued a fatwa allowing the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. The fatwa is considered by MUI to be a guide for the government to provide vaccines to Muslims.

Previously, the transmission of COVID-19 in Indonesia continued to increase. The victims are piled up. The Indonesian government also hopes that the COVID-19 vaccination will soon be a solution. All kinds of rules that allow vaccines to be quickly pursued. Vaccines from various world manufacturers are starting to be accommodated.

The COVID-19 pandemic is increasingly worrying in the archipelago. The transmission rate is piled up. Those who died were no less small. The government also continues to rack their brains so that the chain of spread of COVID-19 breaks. However, that desire is not easy.

The government sees that the only hope against the corona virus is vaccination. The case is that efforts to make vaccines are not easy. World vaccine producers must work extra by starting to speed up the manufacturing process to production.

They try to make vaccines quickly. Another thing than usual. Take the AstreZeneca vaccine for example. Vaccines developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca quickly summarize.

The vaccine from England will soon spread throughout the world starting in early 2021. The vaccine has also been approved in 70 countries, from Saudi Arabia to Morocco. The Indonesian government is also interested in using the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The license to use it has been signed by the Food and Drug Administration (BPOM). However, its use cannot be arbitrary. Indonesia is a country with the majority Islam. The issue of the AstraZeneca vaccine using trypsin enzymes containing pigs is a problem.

This condition raises doubts among the Indonesian people. They prefer the use of vaccines from China, Sinovac, which is clearly halal. However, the government considers the process of making the AstraZeneca vaccine to contain trypsin enzymes. The government considers that the last process of enzymes has been refined by technology so that Muslims can consume it.

"Making products clean and good for use by humans anywhere including us Muslims in Indonesia. It is guaranteed safety for the people of Indonesia, including the community over 60 years and over".

"The emergency period of the available vaccine pandemic is the best. For use, the government must use various brands of vaccines, in order to meet the target," said Spokesperson for Covid-19 Vaccination from the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, as quoted on the CNBC page, March 19, 2021.

The polemic made MUI speak up. They tried to examine the ingredients used in the AstraZeneca vaccine. MUI admits that the presence of tripsin enzymes is the cause of the problem. This condition makes MUI be careful in taking a stand.

MUI then issued a fatwa related to AstraZeneca on March 19, 2021. The fatwa decided that the AstraZeneca vaccine was haram, but the MUI allowed Muslims to use it. The decision was taken because vaccination was an emergency and urgent matter.

MUI's decision was also welcomed. This condition became AstraZeneca's vaccine path as an additional option with Sinovac to break the chain of spread of COVID-19 in Indonesia.

"The COVID-19 vaccine produced by AstraZeneca is illegal because in the production stage it uses lipin which contains pork. However, the use of the COVID-19 vaccine produced by AstraZeneca is currently permissible," said the Head of MUI in Fatwa, Asrorun Niam Sholeh as quoted by the Ministry of Health.go.id page, 2021.