Right now, the latest concern for some religious people is whether the corona virus falls under the ‘halal’ category. Already, clerics of the religion are warning their people not to take the vaccine as any product containing pork in any form is strict no-no for them.
As the pharma companies around the world are trying to come up with a viable vaccine for Corona, the clerics of a particular religion are raising concerns about the contents used. Pork derived gelatin has been used widely used as a stabilizer to make sure vaccines remain safe and are effective during transportation and storage.
Swiss pharma giant Novartis has worked on producing pork gelatine free vaccines for years and now Saudi Arabia and Malaysia are in the process of coming up with their own versions.
However, it is felt that due to lack of alternative, shorter shelf life and supply chain issues, the gelatine-free vaccines might take several years to come into the market.
For now, the clerics in India have requested that ICMR or Indian Council for Medical Research to assure that vaccines are pork gelatine free. As the vaccines are being promoted, there is a section of the world that is taking to throw threats, issue fatwas and put forth requests regarding the usage of substances that are against their religious beliefs and customs.
A Muslim cleric from UP’s Darul Uloom Deoband has made it clear that Muslim must wait for a fatwa before taking the vaccine. He said that the safety of the vaccine will be decided by head of fatwa department.
In fact, Malaysia is in the race to come up with first halal vaccine for corona.