As more Muslim scholars encourage people to take the COVID-19 vaccine, religious leaders in Malaysia have stressed that COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for people at risk to prevent the spread of the pandemic and preserve the human life.
“As we know, there is no specific law that (COVID-19) vaccination (when available in the market) is mandatory. So we have to move within the legal framework,” Federal Territory Mufti Dr. Luqman Abdullah told Bernama, Daily Express reported.
“The vaccination is ‘harus’ (in Islam), but it should be encouraged on the advice of the Ministry of Health that it is necessary to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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“If the vaccination is not given priority, there will be the possibility of the presence of other diseases that are feared will bring similar problems like COVID-19. So, when the vaccine is available, it will prevent that situation,” he added.
This Malaysia fatwa falls in line with the other juristic edicts issued by Muslims on the COVID-19 vaccine.
In the UK, British Islamic Medical Association (BIMA) has put out a statement encouraging at-risk individuals to take the vaccine.
The BIMA position statement followed consultation with Muslim health care professionals, Islamic scholars, and representative bodies from across the UK.
On another level, scholars from some of the most influential Islamic seminaries in the UK have issued fatwa saying that the new Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is halal.
Current Vaccines
Currently, several COVID-19 vaccines are in clinical trials. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will review the results of these trials before approving COVID-19 vaccines for use.
But because there is an urgent need for COVID-19 vaccines and the FDA’s vaccine approval process can take months to years, the FDA will first be giving emergency use authorization to COVID-19 vaccines based on less data than is normally required.
The FDA has given emergency use authorization to the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Data has shown that the vaccine starts working soon after the first dose and has an efficacy rate of 95% seven days after the second dose.
Moderna has applied for FDA emergency use authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine. Data has shown that the vaccine has an efficacy rate of 94.1%. This vaccine requires two injections given 28 days apart.
Both the Pfizer/BioNTech and the Moderna COVID-19 vaccines use messenger RNA (mRNA).