SAMARINDA - General Chairperson of the Islamic Center Management Agency (BPIC) of Samarinda, East Kalimantan, Awang Dharma Bakti, rejected the use of the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca, because the vaccine uses trypsin, which Awang said came from pigs.
Awang refused the vaccine because it was guided by the Fatwa of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) Number 14 of 2021 concerning the Law on the Use of the AstraZeneca Vaccine which is haram.
According to him, the refusal was made because in the production process stage of AstraZeneca using trypsin derived from pigs, today he has sent an official letter to the Head of the Samarinda City Health Office regarding the refusal to use the Astrazeneca vaccine.
"The rejection letter that we submitted to the Samarinda Health Office today with the number 103/BPIC-SET/VIII/2021. We refused because it referred to the MUI Fatwa, so we temporarily canceled mass vaccinations at the Islamic Center," he said.
He stated that in initial talks with the Samarinda City Health Office, his party was promised that the vaccine to be injected was the Moderna type, but the latest information from the officers he received was AstraZeneca.
How did the Ministry of Health respond?
"There is an MUI fatwa that the AstraZeneca vaccine is permissible, meaning that it can still be used in an emergency as part of the effort," said the Ministry of Health's COVID-19 Vaccination Spokesperson, Dr. Siti Nadia Tarmizi, confirmed by VOI, Thursday, August 26.
Previously, the Chairperson of the Indonesian Ulema Council for the fatwa Asrorun Niam Sholeh explained that there were five basics used by MUI in granting permission to use the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca, which was produced at SK Bioscience Co. Ltd., Andong, South Korea.
“The first basis is currently permissible (mbah) because there is a condition of urgent need (hajah syar'iyyah) that occupies a syar'iy emergency (dlarurah syar'iyyah). Then there is competent and trusted expert information about the danger (fatal risk) if not immediately vaccinated against COVID-19, "he explained, quoted from the covid19.go.id page.
"The next basis, the availability of a halal and holy COVID-19 vaccine is not sufficient for the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccination in an effort to realize group immunity. Then there is a guarantee of safety for its use by the government, and the government does not have the freedom to choose the type of COVID-19 vaccine, given the limited vaccine available," said Asrorun Niam.
All provisions are contained in the MUI Fatwa Number 14 of 2021 concerning the Law on the Use of the COVID-19 vaccine for AstraZeneca products. "The time is now to unite and avoid unproductive polemics," he ordered in March 2021.
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