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AstraZeneca vaccine doesn’t contain pork, not haram, manufacturers appeal to Indonesian Muslims

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Oxford-AstraZeneca on Sunday debunked claims that its COVID-19 vaccine contains pork-derived ingredients, countering an assertion in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, that the drug violates Islamic law.

Indonesia’s highest Muslim clerical council, the Indonesia Ulema Council had announced on its website on Friday that the vaccine is “haram” because the manufacturing process uses “trypsin from the pork pancreas.”

That notwithstanding, the council approved the AstraZeneca vaccine for use given the pandemic emergency.

In a statement by AstraZeneca Indonesia spokesman, Rizman Abudaeri, “At all stages of the production process, this virus vector vaccine does not use nor come in contact with pork-derived products or other animal products.”

The council and the country’s food and drug agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Indonesian authorities on Friday approved the use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine after reviewing reports that it had caused blood clots among some recipients in Europe.

Indonesia is grappling with one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in Asia – with 1,455,788 cases and 39,447 deaths as of Saturday.

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