Jakarta, NU Online
The Health Ministry has halted distribution of a meningitis vaccine for those planning the pilgrimage to Mecca after clerics declared the medicine haram, or forbidden under Islam.
“We won’t use the vaccines we already purchased” from GlaxoSmithKline for Rp 20 billion ($2.2 million), Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih said on Thursday. “We will choose only halal products.”<<>br />
Ratna Rosita Hendarji, the ministry’s secretary general, said they had asked PT Biofarma, the company in charge of the vaccine’s procurement and distribution, to replace it.
“We won’t suffer a financial loss. We have told the company that … we are canceling the GSK vaccine,” she said, “and we will exchange it with a vaccine that has been deemed safe and halal.”
The Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) on Monday passed an edict banning the vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline.
It cited GSK’s use of porcine enzymes as the reason for the ban, but said vaccines manufactured by Novartis and Tian Yuan were acceptable for Muslims because they did not contain pig-derived components.
Pork and pig-derived byproducts are forbidden for Muslims.
Ratna said the ministry would likely switch to the Novartis vaccine, which she said would be approved by the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) by the end of July.
“Biofarma will still take care of the new vaccine, we just need to change the brand,” she was quoted by the Jakarta Globe as saying.
The decision comes amid preparations for the annual hajj. Some 211,000 pilgrims are expected to travel from Indonesia to Mecca this year.
Saudi health authorities have required that all pilgrims receive a meningitis vaccination before entering the country to prevent any of them from contracting the sometimes fatal inflammation while there.
“We initially planned to distribute the meningitis vaccines to community health centers, but they’re all still being held at pilgrim embarkation points and haven’t been distributed yet,” Endang said. “I’ve ordered officials not to hand them out.” (dar)
The Health Ministry has halted distribution of a meningitis vaccine for those planning the pilgrimage to Mecca after clerics declared the medicine haram, or forbidden under Islam.
“We won’t use the vaccines we already purchased” from GlaxoSmithKline for Rp 20 billion ($2.2 million), Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih said on Thursday. “We will choose only halal products.”<<>br />
Ratna Rosita Hendarji, the ministry’s secretary general, said they had asked PT Biofarma, the company in charge of the vaccine’s procurement and distribution, to replace it.
“We won’t suffer a financial loss. We have told the company that … we are canceling the GSK vaccine,” she said, “and we will exchange it with a vaccine that has been deemed safe and halal.”
The Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) on Monday passed an edict banning the vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline.
It cited GSK’s use of porcine enzymes as the reason for the ban, but said vaccines manufactured by Novartis and Tian Yuan were acceptable for Muslims because they did not contain pig-derived components.
Pork and pig-derived byproducts are forbidden for Muslims.
Ratna said the ministry would likely switch to the Novartis vaccine, which she said would be approved by the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) by the end of July.
“Biofarma will still take care of the new vaccine, we just need to change the brand,” she was quoted by the Jakarta Globe as saying.
The decision comes amid preparations for the annual hajj. Some 211,000 pilgrims are expected to travel from Indonesia to Mecca this year.
Saudi health authorities have required that all pilgrims receive a meningitis vaccination before entering the country to prevent any of them from contracting the sometimes fatal inflammation while there.
“We initially planned to distribute the meningitis vaccines to community health centers, but they’re all still being held at pilgrim embarkation points and haven’t been distributed yet,” Endang said. “I’ve ordered officials not to hand them out.” (dar)
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