As the world inches back to normalcy with countries across the world racing towards coming out with a potential vaccine for COVID-19, the Indonesian government has come out demanding a halal certification for the COVID19 vaccine. The certification would be a significant step in immunisation efforts in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, should the vaccine be approved for use.
About 1 million doses of the experimental Covid-19 vaccine developed by China-based Sinovac Biotech arrived in Indonesia on Monday, following which there was a request for the Halal Council’s certification of the vaccine.
Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto said Monday that the experimental vaccine needs to successfully complete phase-three clinical trials before it can be distributed in Indonesia. “The government will provide a vaccine that is proven safe and passes clinical trials under World Health Organization recommendations,” Putranto said.
On Monday, the Health Ministry announced 5,754 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the confirmed total to 581,550, including 17,867 deaths, the highest in Southeast Asia.