Covid vaccine gets nod from Islamic institutions

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Dr Burhanudin and Dr Zainab.

THIS is the third week the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is being given to the public in the United Kingdom, one of the Covid-19 vaccines that Malaysia will receive as early as February 2021.

The Malaysian government has also secured coronavirus vaccine from AstraZeneca PLC last week, expected to be delivered in the first half of 2021.

However, some Muslims in the country are having doubts.

Some others are concerned about many articles and videos being widely circulated about a theory saying that the Covid-19 pandemic is part of a strategy conceived by global elites to roll out vaccinations with tracking chips that would later be activated by 5G, the technology used by cellular networks.

In Malaysia, a special meeting of the Muzakarah Committee of the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs on Dec 3 had decided that the use of the Covid-19 vaccine is permissible (harus) and obligatory (wajib) for groups which have been identified by the government.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Seri Dr Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri in a statement recently said that the decision was presented to the Conference of Rulers.

“In this regard, I call on all Malaysians, especially Muslims, to adhere and give full trust to the government in tackling the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic through the use of vaccines,” he said.

At the international level, he said the global fatwa institutions had issued fatwas (edicts) on the permissibility of the use of vaccines, including the al-Azhar al-Sharif; the United Arab Emirates’ Fatwa Council; and Majma ‘Fuqaha’ al-Shari’ah in the United States.

Meanwhile in the UK, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was approved by the British Islamic Medical Association (BIMA) and other Islamic scholars, stating the vaccine was halal ‘based on the information available.’

According to the British government, the vaccine does not contain any components of animal origin, which has been a concern for Muslims as porcine, which is haram (non-permissible), or non-halal slaughtered beef could have been used.

A Malaysian couple, who received the world’s first approved coronavirus vaccine recently as the UK embarked on a mass immunisation campaign without parallel in the country’s history – Dr Zainab Kassim and her husband Dr Burhanudin Busu, followed the recommendation of BIMA.

Both Dr Zainab and Dr Burhanudin are aware of many “so-called experts” talking and giving advice on the Covid-19 vaccine.

“Our Muslim friend who is a doctorate and a professional advised that the Covid vaccine is not the solution to the Covid-19 pandemic and we should go for alternatives such as herbs and prophetic medicine.

“In fact, he claims that the Covid-19 vaccine is part of a conspiracy to kill people and destroy humanity. Some other so-called scientists and medical experts claimed that the Covid-19 vaccine comes with trackable microchips and the m-RNA based vaccine can change our DNA. And many more.

“Our response is simple and clear. The Covid-19 vaccine is not the final or only solution to the Covid pandemic. Nobody ever said that!

“Hence what we have been practicing such as wearing mask, social distancing and hand washing will continue despite the vaccines.

“Prophetic medicine and alternative medicines have their roles and should complement modern medicine. It is also important to differentiate conspiracy theory from conspiracy facts.

“When people ask why do we have vaccine in the first place, our answer is very clear – it helps to prevent serious illness from the infection especially amongst the high risk groups such as elderly and people with comorbidities,” said Dr Zainab and Dr Burhanudin.

They added, it is stated that the vaccine prevents infection by 95 per cent.

Nevertheless, the primary objective was not to study transmission – but two of the studies i.e Mordena and AZ hinted that asymptomatic carriage was reduced in their interim results, suggesting that this might reduce the transmission of the virus.

They added that the vaccine also speeds up the process of reaching herd immunity so that livelihoods can normalise and save us from economic crisis.

“We are not anti-vaccine nor pro-vaccine. We are only anti-pseudoscience and pro-truths. In fact we are very critical and hesitant about the Covid-19 vaccine. There is a lot of uncertainties and what we don’t know about it,” she added.

Dr Zainab is a Neonatal Specialist, while her husband Dr Burhanudin is an orthopaedic surgeon – both are currently attached to King’s College Hospital in London.

UK is the first country to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine which was rolled out on Dec 7.

There were 50 vaccine hubs selected in the UK to begin rolling and King’s is one of the hubs.

For them in the United Kingdom, they have access to expert opinion from the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) and British Islamic Medical Association (BIMA) who are very reputable, scientific and consistent in their undertakings.

Dr Zainab and Dr Burhanudin said they have given a factual and balanced view on the Covid-19 vaccine by admitting its limitations and justification of taking it.

Further information can be obtained from the RSM and BIMA websites at https://www.rsm.ac.uk/ and https://britishima.org/