Indonesia declares Sinovac vaccine halal

A COVID-19 vaccine produced by Sinovac Biotech is deemed halal, or permissible under Islam, Indonesia's Ulema Council said on Friday, days before the country is scheduled to start its inoculation programme using the Chinese vaccine.

Asrorun Niam Sholeh of the council's fatwa commission told a news conference that the vaccine, named CoronaVac, was "holy and halal", although authorisation still rests on the Indonesia's food and drug agency. Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country, has received 3 million doses of CoronaVac, reports Reuters.