1.4 Million Jakarta Residents Have Not Been Vaccinated, There Are Still Those Who Consider Vaccines To Be Haram

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JAKARTA - Head of the Surveillance and Immunization Section of the DKI Jakarta Health Service, Ngabila Salama, explained that there are still 1.4 million Jakarta residents who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Ngabila said that residents who are still reluctant to be injected with this vaccine have various reasons. One reason that is widely used is to consider vaccines haram for religious law.

"There are still a lot of people in DKI Jakarta, there are 1,412,292 people who have not been vaccinated. The reasons are various, one of which is halal-haram", Ngabila said in a virtual discussion, Friday, February 25.

One type of vaccine that is associated with halal and haram issues is the AstraZeneca vaccine. The production stage of AstraZeneca is said to utilize trypsin derived from pigs. This is what makes people think vaccines are haram.

However, Ngabila emphasized that AstraZeneca can still be used for the community because the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has issued a fatwa for the halal AstraZeneca vaccine to be injected into the human body.

"AstraZeneca is permissible, meaning that it is permissible when we are in a health emergency, where our lives are at stake. Yes, it is halal. So, everyone should understand and there will be no more (reasons) for this", she said.

On that occasion, Ngabila also asked the public not to be picky about the brand of the COVID-19 vaccine and take advantage of the vaccine stock provided by the government.

"Imagine, in Africa, it is very difficult for people to find one vaccine. Our country is wasting vaccines that are about to expire, this is very unfortunate", she said.

It is known that currently, the vaccination achievement in DKI Jakarta as of February 24 was 12,401,510 people in the first dose, with a proportion of 70 percent being residents with a DKI ID card and 30 percent residents with a non-DKI ID card.

The number of people who were vaccinated with the second dose reached 10,404,221 people, with a proportion of 72 percent being residents with a DKI ID card and 28 percent residents with a non-DKI ID card. The current third dose (booster) vaccination is 1,221,863 people.