There’s a serious request to the Indonesian authorities to guarantee the halal status of China’s Sinovac vaccine until massive use for the government’s COVID-19 vaccination program from the Center for the Syarikat Islam Ideological Protection (Perisai).
Looking back, before granting its Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for safety purposes, the Indonesian Food and Drug Monitoring Agency should also conclude its thorough and systematic review of the vaccine.
Harjono emphasized that in the wake of its imminent mass administration, the status of halal or religiously permissible for consumption under Muslim law and the protection of this Chinese vaccine are essential and critical deciding factors, provided that the percentage decrease in disease incidence among those in the vaccinated groups remains unknown.
Along with this, he also requested for the continued clarity and comprehensiveness from the BPOM regarding the testing phase in the conduct of its scientific study on the Chinese vaccine prior to the approval of its distribution granting into account public safety.
Pemerintah berupaya menyediakan vaksin Covid-19 bagi seluruh masyarakat secara cuma-cuma, tanpa kecuali. Vaksin ini tidak ada kaitannya dengan keanggotaan BPJS.
— Joko Widodo (@jokowi) December 18, 2020
Pemerintah masih menunggu tahapan ilmiah oleh BPOM, lalu segera menyelenggarakan vaksinasi massal. pic.twitter.com/q2YGCTdJnJ
In its place, Harjono encouraged the communities to endorse and oversee vaccine clinical trials to ensure that the review standardization process is complied with before BPOM issues. To this end, he drew the Agency’s attention not to neglect any scientific standardization of the Sinovac vaccine clinical trials solely for the purpose of reaching a deadline.
Meanwhile, Airlangga Hartarto, Chairman of the COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery Working Committee, previously disclosed that the BPOM was awaiting the outcome of the clinical test and data from China’s Sinovac Biotech before issuing its EUA.
The government has repeatedly expressed confidence in helping to contain the pandemic that posed a significant threat to public health and the economy with the COVID-19 vaccine. It has tried to secure possible COVID-19 vaccines for Indonesians through bilateral and multilateral cooperation over the past few months.
Consequently, Indonesia joins in the procurement and sale of COVID-19 vaccines with China and the United Kingdom. Another thing, The government also supports research efforts to establish Merah Putih the country’s own COVID-19 vaccine which was named after the colors of the national flag.
Morever, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, recently declare that in the third week of December of this year the government is likely to begin the first phase of COVID-19 immunization.
