The government must be transparent regarding patients who fall sick or die after being vaccinated. Do not give ammunition to anti-vaccine groups.

Two Indonesian researchers at the University of Oxford, England, worked on the AstraZeneca vaccine. The production faced limited availability of researchers and equipment.

Indonesian researcher Carina Citra Dewi Joe is involved in the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine research team. She is on the list of patent holders due to her involvement in developing the method for producing mass quantities of the vaccine.

The ruling, or fatwa, from the Indonesian Ulemas Council  (MUI) that concludes the AstraZeneca vaccine haram—forbidden—should not be a consideration in the Covid-19 vaccination program. Matters of health need medical and scientific considerations, not fatwas.

The AstraZeneca vaccine came under the spotlight after several European countries postponed its use. In Indonesia, the vaccine’s halal status has become something of a controversy.

The government’s efforts to persuade the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) to release a halal (permissible by Islamic law) fatwa (edict) for the AstraZeneca vaccine have been unsuccessful. Amid lobbying, MUI officials asked to be made commissioners at state-owned enterprises. The government then enlisted religious organizations in the regions so that a halal edict can be issued for the vaccine. With the vaccine’s expiration date approaching, the government is currently mapping regions more amenable to the AstraZeneca vaccine.