Jokowi: Kyai And Caregivers Of Islamic Boarding Schools In East Java Are Ready To Receive AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine

President Joko Widodo (Photo: Cabinet Secretariat of the Republic of Indonesia)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said that a number of Islamic boarding school Kyai and caregivers are ready to receive the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca.

This was conveyed by President Jokowi via his Twitter account @jokowi, who uploaded a photo of him monitoring vaccine administration in East Java.

“Mr. Kyai Hasan Mutawakkil Alallah, Chairman of the East Java Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI) received the AstraZeneca vaccine today in Sidoarjo. "The law is halalan and tayyiban," said Kyai Hasan. A number of Kyai and caregivers of Islamic boarding schools in East Java have stated that they are ready to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine injection,” he said as quoted on the Twitter account @jokowi, Monday, March 22.

Furthermore, Jokowi stated that the government appreciates the acceptance of the Kyai for the AstraZeneca vaccine. Moreover, currently, the vaccine is in the spotlight.

Furthermore, he ordered Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin to immediately distribute the AstraZeneca vaccine to East Java. "And other provinces that are in need," he said.

This needs to be done in order to maintain the safety of the community from the dangers of COVID-19.

"This vaccination aims to protect the lives and safety of the people from the COVID-19 pandemic," he said.

Previously reported, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) allowed the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in the national vaccination program, even though the composition of the British vaccine contains pork which is forbidden by Muslims.

"The law is that the first vaccine for AstraZeneca products is haram because the production stages use trypsin from pigs," said MUI chairman Asrorun Niam Sholeh, Friday, March 19.

Even so, the use of the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca is currently legally permissible because there are conditions of urgent need that occupy the position of emergency syar'i.

Meanwhile, AstraZeneca emphasized that AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine does not come into contact with pig-derived products or other animal products.

"It is important to note that AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine is a viral vector vaccine that does not contain products of animal origin, as confirmed by the British Medicines and Health Products Authority," he explained in a press statement, Saturday, March 20.

"At all stages of the production process, this virus vector vaccine does not use and come in contact with pork or other animal products," said AstraZeneca.

AstraZeneca also assured that this vaccine has been approved in more than 70 countries around the world and including Muslim countries.