House Questions Bio Farma's Ability to Produce Halal COVID-19 Vaccine
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6 April 2022 17:42 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Member of the COVID-19 Vaccine Supervision Committee of the House of Representatives (DPR) Commission IX, Nur Nadlifah, questioned the ability of state-owned pharmaceutical giant Bio Farma to produce halal Sinovac vaccine.
“Regarding the stock of Sinovac vaccine, how far the ability of Bio Farma to produce Sinovac vaccine?” said Nadlifah in a meeting with the pharmacy firm and the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) at the Parliament Building, Jakarta, Wednesday, April 6.
She emphasized that the state-run company has been able to produce Sinovac vaccines that have been certified halal by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) since 2021. However, the Health Ministry did not include it in the list of vaccines for booster shots because of limited production.
“Why is the production not increased? So there will be a halal vaccine option for the booster. How many times do I have to repeat this that the majority of Indonesian people are Muslim, so it is a sin not to provide halal vaccines,” said the PKB politician.
Nadlifah assessed that the current conditions were far different from that during the Delta variant wave last year. At the time of emergency, it is allowed to get a non-halal COVID-19 vaccine. “So, it is a sin for the government to not provide halal-certified vaccines,” she said.
Read: Access to Vaccines in 2022, Bio Farma: No Discussions Yet
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