🕷️ Crawler Inspector

URL Lookup

Direct Parameter Lookup

Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 84 (from laksa020)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa084.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical, ml_categories_json AS ml_categories_json, ml_types_json AS ml_types_json, ml_intent_types_json AS ml_intent_types_json, meta_language AS meta_language, attrs_author AS attrs_author, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(attrs_publish_time), 0) AS attrs_publish_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(attrs_original_publish_time), 0) AS attrs_original_publish_time, ifNull(attrs_is_republished, 0) AS attrs_is_republished, ifNull(attrs_nr_words, 0) AS attrs_nr_words, ifNull(attrs_boilerpipe_nr_words, 0) AS attrs_boilerpipe_nr_words, ifNull(body_ext_links_number, 0) AS body_ext_links_number, ifNull(body_int_links_number, 0) AS body_int_links_number, ifNull(meta_nofollow, 0) AS meta_nofollow, ifNull(meta_noarchive, 0) AS meta_noarchive, ifNull(props_was_rendered, 0) AS props_was_rendered, ifNull(src_redirect, \'\') AS src_redirect, ifNull(download_time_msec, 0) AS download_time_msec, ifNull(download_ttfb_msec, 0) AS download_ttfb_msec, ifNull(download_size, 0) AS download_size FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/world/asia/indonesia-sinovac-vaccine-halal.html\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/world/asia/indonesia-sinovac-vaccine-halal.html\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/01\/05\/world\/asia\/indonesia-sinovac-vaccine-halal.html","crawl_time":1772619784,"first_indexed_time":1609844839,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,nytimes!www,\/2021\/01\/05\/world\/asia\/indonesia-sinovac-vaccine-halal.html s443","src_root_hash":"4566504020376537684","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"Is the Vaccine Halal? Indonesians Await the Answer - The New York Times","meta_descriptions":["President Joko Widodo hopes to begin inoculations soon, but the vaccine from the Chinese company Sinovac still needs approval from safety regulators and an influential council of Muslim clerics."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"Advertisement\nSKIP ADVERTISEMENT\nPresident Joko Widodo hopes to begin inoculations soon, but the vaccine from the Chinese company Sinovac still needs approval from safety regulators and an influential council of Muslim clerics.\nAn employee at the Global Halal Center near Jakarta, where the coronavirus vaccine made by the Chinese company Sinovac was analyzed to determine the drug’s halal status in Indonesia.\nCredit...\nUlet Ifansasti for The New York Times\nJan. 5, 2021\nThe one-sentence letter didn’t say much. The coronavirus vaccine was “manufactured free of porcine materials,” Sinovac, the Chinese vaccine maker, wrote to Indonesia’s state-owned vaccine manufacturer in July.\nWhile the letter was promising,\nIndonesian\nclerics needed more details. A vaccine laced with the smallest amount of pork DNA could dissuade some followers of Islam from inoculation in Indonesia, the country with the world’s largest Muslim population. Sinovac took months to provide more information, which came only this week.\nThe Chinese company’s delayed response has been yet another challenge in Indonesia’s already fragile vaccine rollout. With the highest number of coronavirus infections in Southeast Asia, the country is eager to drum up support for its goal of inoculating 181.5 million adults within 15 months. But looming questions about the safety of the Sinovac vaccine and whether it is halal, or allowed under Islam, are complicating the government’s efforts.\n“There shouldn’t be any concern about whether this vaccine is halal or not halal,” said President Joko Widodo. “We are in an emergency situation because of the Covid pandemic.”\nIndonesia has recorded nearly 800,000 infections and more than 23,000 deaths, staggering numbers in a region where virus cases have remained relatively low. Inoculations are set to begin with health workers, soldiers and police officers in the coming weeks, once health authorities are satisfied that the Sinovac vaccine is safe and effective.\nMr. Joko said he would go first to show there was nothing to fear.\nImage\nA cemetery  in Medan, North Sumatra, where victims of Covid-19 have been buried. Indonesia has the highest number of coronavirus infections in all of Southeast Asia.\nCredit...\nDedi Sinuhaji\/EPA, via Shutterstock\nThe vaccine must also undergo a separate approval process by the Ulema Council, an influential group of Muslim clerics that decides which products are halal in Indonesia.\nIslamic authorities in other countries where Muslims make up a sizable share of the population, including Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, have already ruled that\ncoronavirus vaccines are permissible\n, even if they contain pork gelatin, which is used to stabilize many inoculations.\nLast month, the Vatican released a statement declaring coronavirus vaccines “morally acceptable” for Catholics who might be opposed to a vaccine developed with stem cells from fetuses aborted decades ago.\nIndonesians are still waiting for religious leaders to weigh in.\n“In pharmaceutical products, halal is one of the important elements after the safety, efficacy and quality of the vaccine itself,” said Bambang Heriyanto, a spokesman for Bio Farma, Indonesia’s state-owned vaccine manufacturer.\nThe Ulema Council is expected to issue a decree, or fatwa, authorizing the use of the Sinovac vaccine in the coming weeks, but the nature of its findings could affect how widely it is accepted in Indonesia, especially among the country’s many conservative Muslims.\nDuring a measles outbreak in 2018, the government, backed by the World Health Organization, undertook an ambitious vaccination program, but the only vaccine available in sufficient quantities contained pig products.\nAfter analyzing the measles vaccine, the Ulema Council declared it haram, or forbidden under Islam, but said its use was allowed because the outbreak was an emergency.\nImage\nThousands of billboards and banners have been erected across Indonesia to promote the government’s vaccination program. \nCredit...\nUlet Ifansasti for The New York Times\nOn billboards above the busy streets of Jakarta, the capital, a woman wearing a face mask and head scarf can be seen flexing her arm as images of the coronavirus float nearby. Thousands of such billboards and banners have been erected along high-traffic roadways across the country. The message: Vaccines protect you.\nTo encourage widespread vaccinations, some regional governments have also passed new laws allowing for the punishment of people who refuse to get inoculated against the coronavirus.\n“The government will ensure that the vaccine is safe and effective, has minimal side effects and is, of course, halal,” said Wiku Adisasmito, spokesman for the national Covid-19 task force. “Regional governments will have the authority to make people obey and participate in the vaccination program so that herd immunity can be achieved easily.”\nWith a population of 270 million, Indonesia hopes to achieve herd immunity by vaccinating roughly two-thirds of the population in just over a year. President Joko said Tuesday that he hoped it could be done even more quickly.\nIndonesia has ordered vaccines from several companies, but plans to rely mostly on Sinovac, which has already delivered three million doses. It is the only vaccine to have arrived in the country so far.\nBio Farma plans to manufacture 122.5 million additional doses using raw materials provided by Sinovac.\nImage\nVisitors wore masks at the Bogor Botanical Gardens on New Year’s Eve. The government plans to vaccinate 181.5 million adults within 15 months.\nCredit...\nUlet Ifansasti for The New York Times\nLike other countries, Indonesia is eagerly awaiting data from Stage 3 trials so that its Food and Drug Control Agency can evaluate the safety of Sinovac’s inoculation. Months ago, China began administering the Sinovac vaccine and one made by a second company, Sinopharm, even though human trials were not completed.\nSinovac is expected to release the findings of its late-stage trials soon, with approval by the Chinese government to follow. But China has rarely been forthcoming about its vaccine data and has a\nhistory of producing faulty vaccines\nand tainted food products. In 2018, a scandal erupted over substandard doses of a vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, and over fabricated data for a rabies vaccine.\nIn Indonesia, a nationwide survey conducted in September by the health ministry, the World Health Organization and Unicef found that health issues were of even greater concern than whether a coronavirus vaccine was halal.\nDicky Budiman, an Indonesian epidemiologist at Griffith University in Australia, called on China to release scientific data from the inoculations so that Indonesia could evaluate the vaccines’ safety and effectiveness.\n“Transparency is one of the biggest challenges for China, especially with their vaccines,” he said. “This is a crucial time for China to show the world how they have improved the quality of their vaccines.”\nThe Ulema Council said it had asked Sinovac repeatedly for documentation on the materials in the vaccine in order to make its determination. It is prepared to announce its ruling after Indonesia determines that the vaccine is safe and effective.\nImage\nMuti Arintawati, director of the Ulema Council’s Food, Drug and Cosmetic Analysis Agency, at the Global Halal Center in Bogor, near Jakarta.\nCredit...\nUlet Ifansasti for The New York Times\nAt the Global Halal Center near Jakarta, the council operates\nlaboratories\nin biotechnology, physics, chemistry and microbiology that it has recently used to test Sinovac’s vaccine for pig products.\nIts labs can test 500,000 product samples a year, said Muti Arintawati, director of the council’s Food, Drug and Cosmetics Analysis Agency. The council, founded in 1975 by representatives of major Islamic groups, has the authority to certify whether products and medications meet Islamic standards in Indonesia. Companies pay from $180 to $780 for the certification.\nMajor Islamic groups such as Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, which together have some 140 million members, will join the effort to encourage the vaccine’s acceptance once it has been deemed safe and a fatwa has been issued.\n“We will give an explanation from the Islamic law perspective so that people are willing to be vaccinated,” said Ahmad Ishomuddin, Nahdlatul Ulama’s supreme leader. “I think only a small number of people will reject it because protecting life is a major purpose of religion.”\nImage\nA shipment of Sinovac’s coronavirus vaccine was moved to the pharmacy storage room of a local health department in Semarang, Central Java province.\nCredit...\nAntara Foto, via Reuters\nDera Menra Sijabat and Muktita Suhartono contributed reporting.\nRichard C. Paddock\nhas worked as a foreign correspondent in 50 countries on five continents with postings in Moscow, Jakarta, Singapore and Bangkok. He has spent nearly a dozen years reporting on Southeast Asia, which he has covered since 2016 as a contributor to The Times.\nA version of this article appears in print on\nJan. 6, 2021\n, Section A, Page 8 of the New York edition with the headline: Muslims in Indonesia Ask if Shots Are Halal\n.\nOrder Reprints\n|\nToday’s Paper\n|\nSubscribe\nRelated Content\nThe Covid-19 Pandemic\nYamil Lage\/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images\nCallaghan O'Hare for The New York Times\nEric Lee\/The New York Times\nMore in Asia Pacific\nVincent Alban\/The New York Times\nOsaka City Waterworks Bureau\nDarren England\/Australian Associated Press, via Reuters\nJung Yeon-Je\/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images\nEditors’ Picks\nEmma McIntyre\/Getty Images\nAlexandre Juillet\/Chamonix-Mont Blanc\nTrending in The Times\nJanet Mac\nBrill\/ullstein bild, via Getty Images\nAbraham Lule\nGarcía-Ruiz et al.\nMunir Uz Zaman\/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images\nChristopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.\nKaoly Gutierrez for The New York Times\nLongview Fire Department\nLiam Kennedy for The New York Times\nArash Khamooshi for The New York Times\nAdvertisement\nSKIP ADVERTISEMENT","attrs_markdown":"[Skip to content](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/01\/05\/world\/asia\/indonesia-sinovac-vaccine-halal.html#site-content)[Skip to site index](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/01\/05\/world\/asia\/indonesia-sinovac-vaccine-halal.html#site-index)\n\nSearch & Section Navigation\n\nSection Navigation\n\nSearch\n\n[Asia Pacific](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/world\/asia)\n\n[Log in](https:\/\/myaccount.nytimes.com\/auth\/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Fsubscription%2Fonboarding-offer%3FcampaignId%3D7JFJX%26EXIT_URI%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.nytimes.com%252F2021%252F01%252F05%252Fworld%252Fasia%252Findonesia-sinovac-vaccine-halal.html&asset=masthead)\n\nWednesday, March 4, 2026\n\n[Today’s Paper](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/todayspaper)\n\n[Asia Pacific](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/world\/asia)\\|Is the Vaccine Halal? Indonesians Await the Answer\n\nhttps:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/01\/05\/world\/asia\/indonesia-sinovac-vaccine-halal.html\n\n- Share full article\n\nAdvertisement\n\n[SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/01\/05\/world\/asia\/indonesia-sinovac-vaccine-halal.html#after-top)\n\nSupported by\n\n[SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/01\/05\/world\/asia\/indonesia-sinovac-vaccine-halal.html#after-sponsor)\n# Is the Vaccine Halal? Indonesians Await the Answer\nPresident Joko Widodo hopes to begin inoculations soon, but the vaccine from the Chinese company Sinovac still needs approval from safety regulators and an influential council of Muslim clerics.\n\n- Share full article\n\n![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2021\/01\/04\/world\/00indonesia-vaccine-1\/merlin_181830561_a7fb117b-d781-4c8d-adcd-186f3272d4e5-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nAn employee at the Global Halal Center near Jakarta, where the coronavirus vaccine made by the Chinese company Sinovac was analyzed to determine the drug’s halal status in Indonesia.Credit...Ulet Ifansasti for The New York Times\n\n[![Richard C. Paddock](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2018\/10\/15\/multimedia\/author-richard-c-paddock\/author-richard-c-paddock-thumbLarge-v3.png)](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/richard-c-paddock)\n\nBy [Richard C. Paddock](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/richard-c-paddock)\n\nJan. 5, 2021\n\n[Leer en español](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/es\/2021\/01\/09\/espanol\/mundo\/vacuna-sinovac.html \"Read in Spanish\")\n\nThe one-sentence letter didn’t say much. The coronavirus vaccine was “manufactured free of porcine materials,” Sinovac, the Chinese vaccine maker, wrote to Indonesia’s state-owned vaccine manufacturer in July.\n\nWhile the letter was promising, [Indonesian](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/01\/11\/world\/asia\/indonesia-plane-crash-fishermen.html) clerics needed more details. A vaccine laced with the smallest amount of pork DNA could dissuade some followers of Islam from inoculation in Indonesia, the country with the world’s largest Muslim population. Sinovac took months to provide more information, which came only this week.\n\nThe Chinese company’s delayed response has been yet another challenge in Indonesia’s already fragile vaccine rollout. With the highest number of coronavirus infections in Southeast Asia, the country is eager to drum up support for its goal of inoculating 181.5 million adults within 15 months. But looming questions about the safety of the Sinovac vaccine and whether it is halal, or allowed under Islam, are complicating the government’s efforts.\n\n“There shouldn’t be any concern about whether this vaccine is halal or not halal,” said President Joko Widodo. “We are in an emergency situation because of the Covid pandemic.”\n\nIndonesia has recorded nearly 800,000 infections and more than 23,000 deaths, staggering numbers in a region where virus cases have remained relatively low. Inoculations are set to begin with health workers, soldiers and police officers in the coming weeks, once health authorities are satisfied that the Sinovac vaccine is safe and effective.\n\nMr. Joko said he would go first to show there was nothing to fear.\n\nImage\n\n![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2021\/01\/04\/world\/00indonesia-vaccine-add\/merlin_181364457_c2a4ddc2-51d1-40ae-8e62-c711e5b565e0-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nA cemetery in Medan, North Sumatra, where victims of Covid-19 have been buried. Indonesia has the highest number of coronavirus infections in all of Southeast Asia.Credit...Dedi Sinuhaji\/EPA, via Shutterstock\n\nThe vaccine must also undergo a separate approval process by the Ulema Council, an influential group of Muslim clerics that decides which products are halal in Indonesia.\n\nIslamic authorities in other countries where Muslims make up a sizable share of the population, including Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, have already ruled that [coronavirus vaccines are permissible](https:\/\/www.freepressjournal.in\/world\/uae-fatwa-council-says-covid-19-vaccine-with-pork-gelatin-permissible-for-muslims), even if they contain pork gelatin, which is used to stabilize many inoculations.\n\nLast month, the Vatican released a statement declaring coronavirus vaccines “morally acceptable” for Catholics who might be opposed to a vaccine developed with stem cells from fetuses aborted decades ago.\n\nIndonesians are still waiting for religious leaders to weigh in.\n\n“In pharmaceutical products, halal is one of the important elements after the safety, efficacy and quality of the vaccine itself,” said Bambang Heriyanto, a spokesman for Bio Farma, Indonesia’s state-owned vaccine manufacturer.\n\n## More on the Virus\n- **Is It Cold, Flu or Covid?:** With similar symptoms, it can be difficult to tell which illness is which. [Here’s what to know](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/11\/25\/well\/cold-flu-covid-symptoms.html).\n- **Heart Problems:** One study found that a Covid infection [doubled the risk of a major cardiovascular event for up to three years afterward](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/11\/22\/well\/covid-heart-health.html). And the risk of a heart attack [triples within the first few weeks](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/10\/29\/well\/viral-infections-covid-flu-heart-attacks.html) after an infection, another suggested.\n- **Long Covid in Children:** People under 21 [are](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/09\/30\/health\/long-covid-children.html) [twice as likely to develop long-term health consequences](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/09\/30\/health\/long-covid-children.html) after a second coronavirus infection, a large study found.\n- **Covid Shots****:** The F.D.A. [approved updated Covid vaccines](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/08\/27\/health\/fda-covid-vaccines-rfk-jr.html) and limited who can get the shots. Children [under 12 need different versions of the vaccines](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/10\/07\/well\/covid-vaccine-children-parents-issues-rfk-jr.html), but many pharmacies and pediatricians’ offices aren’t stocking them. [Here's what to know](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/08\/27\/well\/covid-vaccines-guidelines-fall-2025.html).\n- **Gut Issues:** Why does Covid cause [diarrhea, constipation, pain and bloating? Here are some suggestions for](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/12\/12\/well\/eat\/covid-symptoms-diarrhea-constipation-pain-bloating.html) what to do about these conditions.\n\nThe Ulema Council is expected to issue a decree, or fatwa, authorizing the use of the Sinovac vaccine in the coming weeks, but the nature of its findings could affect how widely it is accepted in Indonesia, especially among the country’s many conservative Muslims.\n\nDuring a measles outbreak in 2018, the government, backed by the World Health Organization, undertook an ambitious vaccination program, but the only vaccine available in sufficient quantities contained pig products.\n\nAfter analyzing the measles vaccine, the Ulema Council declared it haram, or forbidden under Islam, but said its use was allowed because the outbreak was an emergency.\n\n## Editors’ Picks\n[![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/04\/arts\/03cul-young-sherlock\/03cul-young-sherlock-thumbLarge.jpg)In ‘Young Sherlock,’ He’s a Gen Z Heartthrob](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/03\/arts\/television\/young-sherlock.html)\n\n[![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/25\/multimedia\/25-alps-skiing-development-bvwc\/25-alps-skiing-development-bvwc-thumbLarge.jpg)A Crisis in the Alps: Airbnb, Climate Change and Americans](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/02\/travel\/french-alps-problems-overdevelopment-climate-change.html)\n\n[![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/04\/multimedia\/04FD-REST-CORIMA-04-qjpb\/04FD-REST-CORIMA-04-qjpb-thumbLarge-v2.jpg)Tortillas Cooked on a Wok? The Borderless Magic of a Chinatown Chef.](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/03\/dining\/corima-chinatown-restaurant-review.html)\n\nAdvertisement\n\n[SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/01\/05\/world\/asia\/indonesia-sinovac-vaccine-halal.html#after-pp_edpick)\n\nIn some parts of the country, however, [local Muslim leaders opposed using a haram vaccine](https:\/\/www.voanews.com\/east-asia-pacific\/islamic-edict-threatens-derail-indonesian-immunization-efforts). The program fell well short of its 95 percent target and ended [with nearly 10 million children unvaccinated](https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lanplh\/article\/PIIS2542-5196\$18\$30287-0\/fulltext). Only 72 percent of the target group was vaccinated.\n\nImage\n\n![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2021\/01\/04\/world\/00indonesia-vaccine-2\/merlin_181830381_76a11615-9dce-4bf5-af35-7822fba53a9d-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nThousands of billboards and banners have been erected across Indonesia to promote the government’s vaccination program. Credit...Ulet Ifansasti for The New York Times\n\nOn billboards above the busy streets of Jakarta, the capital, a woman wearing a face mask and head scarf can be seen flexing her arm as images of the coronavirus float nearby. Thousands of such billboards and banners have been erected along high-traffic roadways across the country. The message: Vaccines protect you.\n\nTo encourage widespread vaccinations, some regional governments have also passed new laws allowing for the punishment of people who refuse to get inoculated against the coronavirus.\n\n“The government will ensure that the vaccine is safe and effective, has minimal side effects and is, of course, halal,” said Wiku Adisasmito, spokesman for the national Covid-19 task force. “Regional governments will have the authority to make people obey and participate in the vaccination program so that herd immunity can be achieved easily.”\n\nWith a population of 270 million, Indonesia hopes to achieve herd immunity by vaccinating roughly two-thirds of the population in just over a year. President Joko said Tuesday that he hoped it could be done even more quickly.\n\nIndonesia has ordered vaccines from several companies, but plans to rely mostly on Sinovac, which has already delivered three million doses. It is the only vaccine to have arrived in the country so far.\n\nBio Farma plans to manufacture 122.5 million additional doses using raw materials provided by Sinovac.\n\nImage\n\n![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2021\/01\/04\/world\/00indonesia-vaccine-4\/merlin_181830249_cd9f12d4-3901-4de4-ac7d-0ab751f56b33-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nVisitors wore masks at the Bogor Botanical Gardens on New Year’s Eve. The government plans to vaccinate 181.5 million adults within 15 months.Credit...Ulet Ifansasti for The New York Times\n\nLike other countries, Indonesia is eagerly awaiting data from Stage 3 trials so that its Food and Drug Control Agency can evaluate the safety of Sinovac’s inoculation. Months ago, China began administering the Sinovac vaccine and one made by a second company, Sinopharm, even though human trials were not completed.\n\nSinovac is expected to release the findings of its late-stage trials soon, with approval by the Chinese government to follow. But China has rarely been forthcoming about its vaccine data and has a [history of producing faulty vaccines](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/07\/23\/world\/asia\/china-vaccines-scandal-investigation.html) and tainted food products. In 2018, a scandal erupted over substandard doses of a vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, and over fabricated data for a rabies vaccine.\n\nIn Indonesia, a nationwide survey conducted in September by the health ministry, the World Health Organization and Unicef found that health issues were of even greater concern than whether a coronavirus vaccine was halal.\n\nDicky Budiman, an Indonesian epidemiologist at Griffith University in Australia, called on China to release scientific data from the inoculations so that Indonesia could evaluate the vaccines’ safety and effectiveness.\n\n“Transparency is one of the biggest challenges for China, especially with their vaccines,” he said. “This is a crucial time for China to show the world how they have improved the quality of their vaccines.”\n\nThe Ulema Council said it had asked Sinovac repeatedly for documentation on the materials in the vaccine in order to make its determination. It is prepared to announce its ruling after Indonesia determines that the vaccine is safe and effective.\n\nImage\n\n![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2021\/01\/04\/world\/00indonesia-vaccine-3\/merlin_181830360_252652ea-466d-4e5a-bc30-aa811f2a29a2-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nMuti Arintawati, director of the Ulema Council’s Food, Drug and Cosmetic Analysis Agency, at the Global Halal Center in Bogor, near Jakarta.Credit...Ulet Ifansasti for The New York Times\n\nAt the Global Halal Center near Jakarta, the council operates [laboratories](http:\/\/www.halalmui.org\/mui14\/main\/page\/tentang-lab-halal) in biotechnology, physics, chemistry and microbiology that it has recently used to test Sinovac’s vaccine for pig products.\n\nIts labs can test 500,000 product samples a year, said Muti Arintawati, director of the council’s Food, Drug and Cosmetics Analysis Agency. The council, founded in 1975 by representatives of major Islamic groups, has the authority to certify whether products and medications meet Islamic standards in Indonesia. Companies pay from \\$180 to \\$780 for the certification.\n\nMajor Islamic groups such as Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, which together have some 140 million members, will join the effort to encourage the vaccine’s acceptance once it has been deemed safe and a fatwa has been issued.\n\n“We will give an explanation from the Islamic law perspective so that people are willing to be vaccinated,” said Ahmad Ishomuddin, Nahdlatul Ulama’s supreme leader. “I think only a small number of people will reject it because protecting life is a major purpose of religion.”\n\nImage\n\n![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2021\/01\/04\/world\/00indonesia-vaccine-5\/merlin_181945260_8a9e2ced-a4cd-4d0a-a3db-571c27ed24e4-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nA shipment of Sinovac’s coronavirus vaccine was moved to the pharmacy storage room of a local health department in Semarang, Central Java province.Credit...Antara Foto, via Reuters\n\nDera Menra Sijabat and Muktita Suhartono contributed reporting.\n\nThe Coronavirus in Indonesia\n\n[![]()‘It’s Too Late’: In Sprawling Indonesia, Coronavirus Surges May 28, 2020](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/05\/28\/world\/asia\/indonesia-coronavirus-surge.html)\n\n[![]()In Indonesia, False Virus Cures Pushed by Those Who Should Know Better July 31, 2020](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/07\/31\/world\/asia\/indonesia-coronavirus.html)\n\n[![]()Indonesia overtakes the Philippines as the hardest-hit country in Southeast Asia. Oct. 16, 2020](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/10\/16\/world\/indonesia-overtakes-the-philippines-as-the-hardest-hit-country-in-southeast-asia.html)\n\n[Richard C. Paddock](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/richard-c-paddock) has worked as a foreign correspondent in 50 countries on five continents with postings in Moscow, Jakarta, Singapore and Bangkok. He has spent nearly a dozen years reporting on Southeast Asia, which he has covered since 2016 as a contributor to The Times.\n\nA version of this article appears in print on Jan. 6, 2021, Section A, Page 8 of the New York edition with the headline: Muslims in Indonesia Ask if Shots Are Halal. [Order Reprints](https:\/\/nytimes.wrightsmedia.com\/) \\| [Today’s Paper](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/todayspaper) \\| [Subscribe](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscriptions\/Multiproduct\/lp8HYKU.html?campaignId=48JQY)\n\n- Share full article\n\n## Related Content\n### [The Covid-19 Pandemic](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/news-event\/coronavirus)\n- [With Fuel Running Out, Cuba’s Tourism Is Collapsing](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/04\/world\/americas\/cuba-tourism-travel-canada-trump.html)\n  \n  ![Tourists in an old American car used as a taxi last month in Havana.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/22\/multimedia\/22int-cuba-tourism-gbtc\/22int-cuba-tourism-gbtc-thumbLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Yamil Lage\/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images\n- [As Kennedy Turns From Vaccines, MAHA Allies See a ‘Betrayal’](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/02\/health\/kennedy-maha-vaccines.html)\n  \n  ![Derrick Wynne was discharged from the Army for refusing a Covid shot. “He was using our movement to gain a huge amount of traction,” he said of Robert F. 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Chinese company Sinovac still needs approval from safety regulators and an influential council of Muslim clerics.\n\n![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2021\/01\/04\/world\/00indonesia-vaccine-1\/merlin_181830561_a7fb117b-d781-4c8d-adcd-186f3272d4e5-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nAn employee at the Global Halal Center near Jakarta, where the coronavirus vaccine made by the Chinese company Sinovac was analyzed to determine the drug’s halal status in Indonesia.Credit...Ulet Ifansasti for The New York Times\n\nJan. 5, 2021\n\nThe one-sentence letter didn’t say much. The coronavirus vaccine was “manufactured free of porcine materials,” Sinovac, the Chinese vaccine maker, wrote to Indonesia’s state-owned vaccine manufacturer in July.\n\nWhile the letter was promising, [Indonesian](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/01\/11\/world\/asia\/indonesia-plane-crash-fishermen.html) clerics needed more details. A vaccine laced with the smallest amount of pork DNA could dissuade some followers of Islam from inoculation in Indonesia, the country with the world’s largest Muslim population. Sinovac took months to provide more information, which came only this week.\n\nThe Chinese company’s delayed response has been yet another challenge in Indonesia’s already fragile vaccine rollout. With the highest number of coronavirus infections in Southeast Asia, the country is eager to drum up support for its goal of inoculating 181.5 million adults within 15 months. But looming questions about the safety of the Sinovac vaccine and whether it is halal, or allowed under Islam, are complicating the government’s efforts.\n\n“There shouldn’t be any concern about whether this vaccine is halal or not halal,” said President Joko Widodo. “We are in an emergency situation because of the Covid pandemic.”\n\nIndonesia has recorded nearly 800,000 infections and more than 23,000 deaths, staggering numbers in a region where virus cases have remained relatively low. Inoculations are set to begin with health workers, soldiers and police officers in the coming weeks, once health authorities are satisfied that the Sinovac vaccine is safe and effective.\n\nMr. Joko said he would go first to show there was nothing to fear.\n\nImage\n\n![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2021\/01\/04\/world\/00indonesia-vaccine-add\/merlin_181364457_c2a4ddc2-51d1-40ae-8e62-c711e5b565e0-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nA cemetery in Medan, North Sumatra, where victims of Covid-19 have been buried. Indonesia has the highest number of coronavirus infections in all of Southeast Asia.Credit...Dedi Sinuhaji\/EPA, via Shutterstock\n\nThe vaccine must also undergo a separate approval process by the Ulema Council, an influential group of Muslim clerics that decides which products are halal in Indonesia.\n\nIslamic authorities in other countries where Muslims make up a sizable share of the population, including Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, have already ruled that [coronavirus vaccines are permissible](https:\/\/www.freepressjournal.in\/world\/uae-fatwa-council-says-covid-19-vaccine-with-pork-gelatin-permissible-for-muslims), even if they contain pork gelatin, which is used to stabilize many inoculations.\n\nLast month, the Vatican released a statement declaring coronavirus vaccines “morally acceptable” for Catholics who might be opposed to a vaccine developed with stem cells from fetuses aborted decades ago.\n\nIndonesians are still waiting for religious leaders to weigh in.\n\n“In pharmaceutical products, halal is one of the important elements after the safety, efficacy and quality of the vaccine itself,” said Bambang Heriyanto, a spokesman for Bio Farma, Indonesia’s state-owned vaccine manufacturer.\n\nThe Ulema Council is expected to issue a decree, or fatwa, authorizing the use of the Sinovac vaccine in the coming weeks, but the nature of its findings could affect how widely it is accepted in Indonesia, especially among the country’s many conservative Muslims.\n\nDuring a measles outbreak in 2018, the government, backed by the World Health Organization, undertook an ambitious vaccination program, but the only vaccine available in sufficient quantities contained pig products.\n\nAfter analyzing the measles vaccine, the Ulema Council declared it haram, or forbidden under Islam, but said its use was allowed because the outbreak was an emergency.\n\nImage\n\n![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2021\/01\/04\/world\/00indonesia-vaccine-2\/merlin_181830381_76a11615-9dce-4bf5-af35-7822fba53a9d-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nThousands of billboards and banners have been erected across Indonesia to promote the government’s vaccination program. Credit...Ulet Ifansasti for The New York Times\n\nOn billboards above the busy streets of Jakarta, the capital, a woman wearing a face mask and head scarf can be seen flexing her arm as images of the coronavirus float nearby. Thousands of such billboards and banners have been erected along high-traffic roadways across the country. The message: Vaccines protect you.\n\nTo encourage widespread vaccinations, some regional governments have also passed new laws allowing for the punishment of people who refuse to get inoculated against the coronavirus.\n\n“The government will ensure that the vaccine is safe and effective, has minimal side effects and is, of course, halal,” said Wiku Adisasmito, spokesman for the national Covid-19 task force. “Regional governments will have the authority to make people obey and participate in the vaccination program so that herd immunity can be achieved easily.”\n\nWith a population of 270 million, Indonesia hopes to achieve herd immunity by vaccinating roughly two-thirds of the population in just over a year. President Joko said Tuesday that he hoped it could be done even more quickly.\n\nIndonesia has ordered vaccines from several companies, but plans to rely mostly on Sinovac, which has already delivered three million doses. It is the only vaccine to have arrived in the country so far.\n\nBio Farma plans to manufacture 122.5 million additional doses using raw materials provided by Sinovac.\n\nImage\n\n![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2021\/01\/04\/world\/00indonesia-vaccine-4\/merlin_181830249_cd9f12d4-3901-4de4-ac7d-0ab751f56b33-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nVisitors wore masks at the Bogor Botanical Gardens on New Year’s Eve. The government plans to vaccinate 181.5 million adults within 15 months.Credit...Ulet Ifansasti for The New York Times\n\nLike other countries, Indonesia is eagerly awaiting data from Stage 3 trials so that its Food and Drug Control Agency can evaluate the safety of Sinovac’s inoculation. Months ago, China began administering the Sinovac vaccine and one made by a second company, Sinopharm, even though human trials were not completed.\n\nSinovac is expected to release the findings of its late-stage trials soon, with approval by the Chinese government to follow. But China has rarely been forthcoming about its vaccine data and has a [history of producing faulty vaccines](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/07\/23\/world\/asia\/china-vaccines-scandal-investigation.html) and tainted food products. In 2018, a scandal erupted over substandard doses of a vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, and over fabricated data for a rabies vaccine.\n\nIn Indonesia, a nationwide survey conducted in September by the health ministry, the World Health Organization and Unicef found that health issues were of even greater concern than whether a coronavirus vaccine was halal.\n\nDicky Budiman, an Indonesian epidemiologist at Griffith University in Australia, called on China to release scientific data from the inoculations so that Indonesia could evaluate the vaccines’ safety and effectiveness.\n\n“Transparency is one of the biggest challenges for China, especially with their vaccines,” he said. “This is a crucial time for China to show the world how they have improved the quality of their vaccines.”\n\nThe Ulema Council said it had asked Sinovac repeatedly for documentation on the materials in the vaccine in order to make its determination. It is prepared to announce its ruling after Indonesia determines that the vaccine is safe and effective.\n\nImage\n\n![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2021\/01\/04\/world\/00indonesia-vaccine-3\/merlin_181830360_252652ea-466d-4e5a-bc30-aa811f2a29a2-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nMuti Arintawati, director of the Ulema Council’s Food, Drug and Cosmetic Analysis Agency, at the Global Halal Center in Bogor, near Jakarta.Credit...Ulet Ifansasti for The New York Times\n\nAt the Global Halal Center near Jakarta, the council operates [laboratories](http:\/\/www.halalmui.org\/mui14\/main\/page\/tentang-lab-halal) in biotechnology, physics, chemistry and microbiology that it has recently used to test Sinovac’s vaccine for pig products.\n\nIts labs can test 500,000 product samples a year, said Muti Arintawati, director of the council’s Food, Drug and Cosmetics Analysis Agency. The council, founded in 1975 by representatives of major Islamic groups, has the authority to certify whether products and medications meet Islamic standards in Indonesia. Companies pay from \\$180 to \\$780 for the certification.\n\nMajor Islamic groups such as Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, which together have some 140 million members, will join the effort to encourage the vaccine’s acceptance once it has been deemed safe and a fatwa has been issued.\n\n“We will give an explanation from the Islamic law perspective so that people are willing to be vaccinated,” said Ahmad Ishomuddin, Nahdlatul Ulama’s supreme leader. “I think only a small number of people will reject it because protecting life is a major purpose of religion.”\n\nImage\n\n![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2021\/01\/04\/world\/00indonesia-vaccine-5\/merlin_181945260_8a9e2ced-a4cd-4d0a-a3db-571c27ed24e4-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nA shipment of Sinovac’s coronavirus vaccine was moved to the pharmacy storage room of a local health department in Semarang, Central Java province.Credit...Antara Foto, via Reuters\n\nDera Menra Sijabat and Muktita Suhartono contributed reporting.\n\n[Richard C. Paddock](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/richard-c-paddock) has worked as a foreign correspondent in 50 countries on five continents with postings in Moscow, Jakarta, Singapore and Bangkok. He has spent nearly a dozen years reporting on Southeast Asia, which he has covered since 2016 as a contributor to The Times.\n\nA version of this article appears in print on Jan. 6, 2021, Section A, Page 8 of the New York edition with the headline: Muslims in Indonesia Ask if Shots Are Halal. [Order Reprints](https:\/\/nytimes.wrightsmedia.com\/) \\| [Today’s Paper](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/todayspaper) \\| [Subscribe](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscriptions\/Multiproduct\/lp8HYKU.html?campaignId=48JQY)\n\n## Related Content\n[The Covid-19 Pandemic](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/news-event\/coronavirus)\n\n- ![Tourists in an old American car used as a taxi last month in Havana.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/22\/multimedia\/22int-cuba-tourism-gbtc\/22int-cuba-tourism-gbtc-thumbLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Yamil Lage\/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images\n- ![Derrick Wynne was discharged from the Army for refusing a Covid shot. “He was using our movement to gain a huge amount of traction,” he said of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/12\/05\/multimedia\/00hs-antivax-pqbj\/00hs-antivax-pqbj-thumbLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Callaghan O'Hare for The New York Times\n- Eric Lee\/The New York Times\n\n[More in Asia Pacific](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/world\/asia)\n\n- ![Ms. Liu during a training session at the Milan ice skating arena.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/02\/multimedia\/02BIZ-Newworld-03-vmjp\/02BIZ-Newworld-03-vmjp-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Vincent Alban\/The New York Times\n- ![The Osaka City Waterworks Bureau released a photo of the gold bars with serial numbers redacted.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/25\/multimedia\/25xp-osaka-jpcq\/25xp-osaka-jpcq-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Osaka City Waterworks Bureau\n- ![Pauline Hanson, the leader of the One Nation party, at a rally in Brisbane, Australia, last month. She has long argued that Australia needs to curb what she calls “mass migration.”](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/26\/multimedia\/26int-oz-immigration-01-vqmc\/26int-oz-immigration-01-vqmc-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Darren England\/Australian Associated Press, via Reuters\n- ![A news broadcast in Seoul on Thursday showing footage of Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s leader, speaking at the ruling Workers’ Party congress.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/26\/multimedia\/26int-nkorea-pwvz\/26int-nkorea-pwvz-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Jung Yeon-Je\/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images\n\nEditors’ Picks\n\n- ![Husband and wife?](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/02\/multimedia\/02ST-ZENDAYA-WEDDING-htcf\/02ST-ZENDAYA-WEDDING-htcf-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Emma McIntyre\/Getty Images\n- ![A view over the Chamonix valley from the Balme-Vallorcine ski area. ](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/25\/multimedia\/25-alps-skiing-development-bvwc\/25-alps-skiing-development-bvwc-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Alexandre Juillet\/Chamonix-Mont Blanc\n\nTrending in The Times\n\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/03\/opinion\/03emba\/03emba-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Janet Mac\n- ![Carolin Widmann was boarding a plane with a Guadagnini violin, made in 1782, when she was instructed to take it out of its case. ](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/24\/multimedia\/00xp-instruments-widmann\/00xp-instruments-widmann-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Brill\/ullstein bild, via Getty Images\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/02\/opinion\/02clausing-image\/02clausing-image-square640-v3.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Abraham Lule\n- García-Ruiz et al.\n- ![Stranded passengers outside the main international airport in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital. The conflict has severely disrupted air travel.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/04\/02\/multimedia\/02int-iran-mideast-wtk-01-cklw\/02int-iran-mideast-wtk-01-cklw-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Munir Uz Zaman\/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images\n- ![Yasmin Fahr’s honey-garlic chicken breasts.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/27\/multimedia\/27FD-CHICKEN-BREAST-ROUNDUP-honeygarlicchicken-hwbt\/27FD-CHICKEN-BREAST-ROUNDUP-honeygarlicchicken-hwbt-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.\n- ![Uptake of the vaccine has been slow, like at this public health fair at The University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Greenville, S.C.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/03\/multimedia\/03nat-measles-southcarolina-01-kcqv\/03nat-measles-southcarolina-01-kcqv-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Kaoly Gutierrez for The New York Times\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/03\/multimedia\/00xp-balloon5-kqzv\/00xp-balloon5-kqzv-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Longview Fire Department\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/27\/multimedia\/27openthread-askvanessa-hwcl\/27openthread-askvanessa-hwcl-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Liam Kennedy for The New York Times\n- ![A worker breaking down structural steel after American airstrikes on Tehran on Monday.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/03\/multimedia\/03int-israel-assess-04-ftvh\/03int-israel-assess-04-ftvh-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times\n\nAdvertisement\n\n[SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/01\/05\/world\/asia\/indonesia-sinovac-vaccine-halal.html#after-bottom)","meta_canonical":null,"ml_categories_json":"","ml_types_json":"","ml_intent_types_json":"","meta_language":"en","attrs_author":null,"attrs_publish_time":1609844718,"attrs_original_publish_time":1609844718,"attrs_is_republished":0,"attrs_nr_words":"2355","attrs_boilerpipe_nr_words":"1561","body_ext_links_number":17,"body_int_links_number":133,"meta_nofollow":0,"meta_noarchive":1,"props_was_rendered":1,"src_redirect":"","download_time_msec":659,"download_ttfb_msec":625,"download_size":111839}

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Meta Title	Is the Vaccine Halal? Indonesians Await the Answer - The New York Times
Meta Description	President Joko Widodo hopes to begin inoculations soon, but the vaccine from the Chinese company Sinovac still needs approval from safety regulators and an influential council of Muslim clerics.
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Boilerpipe Text	Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT President Joko Widodo hopes to begin inoculations soon, but the vaccine from the Chinese company Sinovac still needs approval from safety regulators and an influential council of Muslim clerics. An employee at the Global Halal Center near Jakarta, where the coronavirus vaccine made by the Chinese company Sinovac was analyzed to determine the drug’s halal status in Indonesia. Credit... Ulet Ifansasti for The New York Times Jan. 5, 2021 The one-sentence letter didn’t say much. The coronavirus vaccine was “manufactured free of porcine materials,” Sinovac, the Chinese vaccine maker, wrote to Indonesia’s state-owned vaccine manufacturer in July. While the letter was promising, Indonesian clerics needed more details. A vaccine laced with the smallest amount of pork DNA could dissuade some followers of Islam from inoculation in Indonesia, the country with the world’s largest Muslim population. Sinovac took months to provide more information, which came only this week. The Chinese company’s delayed response has been yet another challenge in Indonesia’s already fragile vaccine rollout. With the highest number of coronavirus infections in Southeast Asia, the country is eager to drum up support for its goal of inoculating 181.5 million adults within 15 months. But looming questions about the safety of the Sinovac vaccine and whether it is halal, or allowed under Islam, are complicating the government’s efforts. “There shouldn’t be any concern about whether this vaccine is halal or not halal,” said President Joko Widodo. “We are in an emergency situation because of the Covid pandemic.” Indonesia has recorded nearly 800,000 infections and more than 23,000 deaths, staggering numbers in a region where virus cases have remained relatively low. Inoculations are set to begin with health workers, soldiers and police officers in the coming weeks, once health authorities are satisfied that the Sinovac vaccine is safe and effective. Mr. Joko said he would go first to show there was nothing to fear. Image A cemetery in Medan, North Sumatra, where victims of Covid-19 have been buried. Indonesia has the highest number of coronavirus infections in all of Southeast Asia. Credit... Dedi Sinuhaji/EPA, via Shutterstock The vaccine must also undergo a separate approval process by the Ulema Council, an influential group of Muslim clerics that decides which products are halal in Indonesia. Islamic authorities in other countries where Muslims make up a sizable share of the population, including Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, have already ruled that coronavirus vaccines are permissible , even if they contain pork gelatin, which is used to stabilize many inoculations. Last month, the Vatican released a statement declaring coronavirus vaccines “morally acceptable” for Catholics who might be opposed to a vaccine developed with stem cells from fetuses aborted decades ago. Indonesians are still waiting for religious leaders to weigh in. “In pharmaceutical products, halal is one of the important elements after the safety, efficacy and quality of the vaccine itself,” said Bambang Heriyanto, a spokesman for Bio Farma, Indonesia’s state-owned vaccine manufacturer. The Ulema Council is expected to issue a decree, or fatwa, authorizing the use of the Sinovac vaccine in the coming weeks, but the nature of its findings could affect how widely it is accepted in Indonesia, especially among the country’s many conservative Muslims. During a measles outbreak in 2018, the government, backed by the World Health Organization, undertook an ambitious vaccination program, but the only vaccine available in sufficient quantities contained pig products. After analyzing the measles vaccine, the Ulema Council declared it haram, or forbidden under Islam, but said its use was allowed because the outbreak was an emergency. Image Thousands of billboards and banners have been erected across Indonesia to promote the government’s vaccination program. Credit... Ulet Ifansasti for The New York Times On billboards above the busy streets of Jakarta, the capital, a woman wearing a face mask and head scarf can be seen flexing her arm as images of the coronavirus float nearby. Thousands of such billboards and banners have been erected along high-traffic roadways across the country. The message: Vaccines protect you. To encourage widespread vaccinations, some regional governments have also passed new laws allowing for the punishment of people who refuse to get inoculated against the coronavirus. “The government will ensure that the vaccine is safe and effective, has minimal side effects and is, of course, halal,” said Wiku Adisasmito, spokesman for the national Covid-19 task force. “Regional governments will have the authority to make people obey and participate in the vaccination program so that herd immunity can be achieved easily.” With a population of 270 million, Indonesia hopes to achieve herd immunity by vaccinating roughly two-thirds of the population in just over a year. President Joko said Tuesday that he hoped it could be done even more quickly. Indonesia has ordered vaccines from several companies, but plans to rely mostly on Sinovac, which has already delivered three million doses. It is the only vaccine to have arrived in the country so far. Bio Farma plans to manufacture 122.5 million additional doses using raw materials provided by Sinovac. Image Visitors wore masks at the Bogor Botanical Gardens on New Year’s Eve. The government plans to vaccinate 181.5 million adults within 15 months. Credit... Ulet Ifansasti for The New York Times Like other countries, Indonesia is eagerly awaiting data from Stage 3 trials so that its Food and Drug Control Agency can evaluate the safety of Sinovac’s inoculation. Months ago, China began administering the Sinovac vaccine and one made by a second company, Sinopharm, even though human trials were not completed. Sinovac is expected to release the findings of its late-stage trials soon, with approval by the Chinese government to follow. But China has rarely been forthcoming about its vaccine data and has a history of producing faulty vaccines and tainted food products. In 2018, a scandal erupted over substandard doses of a vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, and over fabricated data for a rabies vaccine. In Indonesia, a nationwide survey conducted in September by the health ministry, the World Health Organization and Unicef found that health issues were of even greater concern than whether a coronavirus vaccine was halal. Dicky Budiman, an Indonesian epidemiologist at Griffith University in Australia, called on China to release scientific data from the inoculations so that Indonesia could evaluate the vaccines’ safety and effectiveness. “Transparency is one of the biggest challenges for China, especially with their vaccines,” he said. “This is a crucial time for China to show the world how they have improved the quality of their vaccines.” The Ulema Council said it had asked Sinovac repeatedly for documentation on the materials in the vaccine in order to make its determination. It is prepared to announce its ruling after Indonesia determines that the vaccine is safe and effective. Image Muti Arintawati, director of the Ulema Council’s Food, Drug and Cosmetic Analysis Agency, at the Global Halal Center in Bogor, near Jakarta. Credit... Ulet Ifansasti for The New York Times At the Global Halal Center near Jakarta, the council operates laboratories in biotechnology, physics, chemistry and microbiology that it has recently used to test Sinovac’s vaccine for pig products. Its labs can test 500,000 product samples a year, said Muti Arintawati, director of the council’s Food, Drug and Cosmetics Analysis Agency. The council, founded in 1975 by representatives of major Islamic groups, has the authority to certify whether products and medications meet Islamic standards in Indonesia. Companies pay from $180 to $780 for the certification. Major Islamic groups such as Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, which together have some 140 million members, will join the effort to encourage the vaccine’s acceptance once it has been deemed safe and a fatwa has been issued. “We will give an explanation from the Islamic law perspective so that people are willing to be vaccinated,” said Ahmad Ishomuddin, Nahdlatul Ulama’s supreme leader. “I think only a small number of people will reject it because protecting life is a major purpose of religion.” Image A shipment of Sinovac’s coronavirus vaccine was moved to the pharmacy storage room of a local health department in Semarang, Central Java province. Credit... Antara Foto, via Reuters Dera Menra Sijabat and Muktita Suhartono contributed reporting. Richard C. Paddock has worked as a foreign correspondent in 50 countries on five continents with postings in Moscow, Jakarta, Singapore and Bangkok. He has spent nearly a dozen years reporting on Southeast Asia, which he has covered since 2016 as a contributor to The Times. A version of this article appears in print on Jan. 6, 2021 , Section A, Page 8 of the New York edition with the headline: Muslims in Indonesia Ask if Shots Are Halal . Order Reprints \| Today’s Paper \| Subscribe Related Content The Covid-19 Pandemic Yamil Lage/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Callaghan O'Hare for The New York Times Eric Lee/The New York Times More in Asia Pacific Vincent Alban/The New York Times Osaka City Waterworks Bureau Darren England/Australian Associated Press, via Reuters Jung Yeon-Je/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Editors’ Picks Emma McIntyre/Getty Images Alexandre Juillet/Chamonix-Mont Blanc Trending in The Times Janet Mac Brill/ullstein bild, via Getty Images Abraham Lule García-Ruiz et al. Munir Uz Zaman/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Kaoly Gutierrez for The New York Times Longview Fire Department Liam Kennedy for The New York Times Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
Markdown	[Skip to content](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/world/asia/indonesia-sinovac-vaccine-halal.html#site-content)[Skip to site index](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/world/asia/indonesia-sinovac-vaccine-halal.html#site-index) Search & Section Navigation Section Navigation Search [Asia Pacific](https://www.nytimes.com/section/world/asia) [Log in](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Fsubscription%2Fonboarding-offer%3FcampaignId%3D7JFJX%26EXIT_URI%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.nytimes.com%252F2021%252F01%252F05%252Fworld%252Fasia%252Findonesia-sinovac-vaccine-halal.html&asset=masthead) Wednesday, March 4, 2026 [Today’s Paper](https://www.nytimes.com/section/todayspaper) [Asia Pacific](https://www.nytimes.com/section/world/asia)\\|Is the Vaccine Halal? Indonesians Await the Answer https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/world/asia/indonesia-sinovac-vaccine-halal.html - Share full article Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/world/asia/indonesia-sinovac-vaccine-halal.html#after-top) Supported by [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/world/asia/indonesia-sinovac-vaccine-halal.html#after-sponsor) # Is the Vaccine Halal? Indonesians Await the Answer President Joko Widodo hopes to begin inoculations soon, but the vaccine from the Chinese company Sinovac still needs approval from safety regulators and an influential council of Muslim clerics. - Share full article ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/01/04/world/00indonesia-vaccine-1/merlin_181830561_a7fb117b-d781-4c8d-adcd-186f3272d4e5-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) An employee at the Global Halal Center near Jakarta, where the coronavirus vaccine made by the Chinese company Sinovac was analyzed to determine the drug’s halal status in Indonesia.Credit...Ulet Ifansasti for The New York Times [![Richard C. Paddock](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/10/15/multimedia/author-richard-c-paddock/author-richard-c-paddock-thumbLarge-v3.png)](https://www.nytimes.com/by/richard-c-paddock) By [Richard C. Paddock](https://www.nytimes.com/by/richard-c-paddock) Jan. 5, 2021 [Leer en español](https://www.nytimes.com/es/2021/01/09/espanol/mundo/vacuna-sinovac.html "Read in Spanish") The one-sentence letter didn’t say much. The coronavirus vaccine was “manufactured free of porcine materials,” Sinovac, the Chinese vaccine maker, wrote to Indonesia’s state-owned vaccine manufacturer in July. While the letter was promising, [Indonesian](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/11/world/asia/indonesia-plane-crash-fishermen.html) clerics needed more details. A vaccine laced with the smallest amount of pork DNA could dissuade some followers of Islam from inoculation in Indonesia, the country with the world’s largest Muslim population. Sinovac took months to provide more information, which came only this week. The Chinese company’s delayed response has been yet another challenge in Indonesia’s already fragile vaccine rollout. With the highest number of coronavirus infections in Southeast Asia, the country is eager to drum up support for its goal of inoculating 181.5 million adults within 15 months. But looming questions about the safety of the Sinovac vaccine and whether it is halal, or allowed under Islam, are complicating the government’s efforts. “There shouldn’t be any concern about whether this vaccine is halal or not halal,” said President Joko Widodo. “We are in an emergency situation because of the Covid pandemic.” Indonesia has recorded nearly 800,000 infections and more than 23,000 deaths, staggering numbers in a region where virus cases have remained relatively low. Inoculations are set to begin with health workers, soldiers and police officers in the coming weeks, once health authorities are satisfied that the Sinovac vaccine is safe and effective. Mr. Joko said he would go first to show there was nothing to fear. Image ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/01/04/world/00indonesia-vaccine-add/merlin_181364457_c2a4ddc2-51d1-40ae-8e62-c711e5b565e0-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) A cemetery in Medan, North Sumatra, where victims of Covid-19 have been buried. Indonesia has the highest number of coronavirus infections in all of Southeast Asia.Credit...Dedi Sinuhaji/EPA, via Shutterstock The vaccine must also undergo a separate approval process by the Ulema Council, an influential group of Muslim clerics that decides which products are halal in Indonesia. Islamic authorities in other countries where Muslims make up a sizable share of the population, including Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, have already ruled that [coronavirus vaccines are permissible](https://www.freepressjournal.in/world/uae-fatwa-council-says-covid-19-vaccine-with-pork-gelatin-permissible-for-muslims), even if they contain pork gelatin, which is used to stabilize many inoculations. Last month, the Vatican released a statement declaring coronavirus vaccines “morally acceptable” for Catholics who might be opposed to a vaccine developed with stem cells from fetuses aborted decades ago. Indonesians are still waiting for religious leaders to weigh in. “In pharmaceutical products, halal is one of the important elements after the safety, efficacy and quality of the vaccine itself,” said Bambang Heriyanto, a spokesman for Bio Farma, Indonesia’s state-owned vaccine manufacturer. ## More on the Virus - Is It Cold, Flu or Covid?: With similar symptoms, it can be difficult to tell which illness is which. [Here’s what to know](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/well/cold-flu-covid-symptoms.html). - Heart Problems: One study found that a Covid infection [doubled the risk of a major cardiovascular event for up to three years afterward](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/22/well/covid-heart-health.html). And the risk of a heart attack [triples within the first few weeks](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/well/viral-infections-covid-flu-heart-attacks.html) after an infection, another suggested. - Long Covid in Children: People under 21 [are](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/health/long-covid-children.html) [twice as likely to develop long-term health consequences](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/health/long-covid-children.html) after a second coronavirus infection, a large study found. - Covid Shots: The F.D.A. [approved updated Covid vaccines](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/health/fda-covid-vaccines-rfk-jr.html) and limited who can get the shots. Children [under 12 need different versions of the vaccines](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/well/covid-vaccine-children-parents-issues-rfk-jr.html), but many pharmacies and pediatricians’ offices aren’t stocking them. [Here's what to know](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/well/covid-vaccines-guidelines-fall-2025.html). - Gut Issues: Why does Covid cause [diarrhea, constipation, pain and bloating? Here are some suggestions for](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/12/well/eat/covid-symptoms-diarrhea-constipation-pain-bloating.html) what to do about these conditions. The Ulema Council is expected to issue a decree, or fatwa, authorizing the use of the Sinovac vaccine in the coming weeks, but the nature of its findings could affect how widely it is accepted in Indonesia, especially among the country’s many conservative Muslims. During a measles outbreak in 2018, the government, backed by the World Health Organization, undertook an ambitious vaccination program, but the only vaccine available in sufficient quantities contained pig products. After analyzing the measles vaccine, the Ulema Council declared it haram, or forbidden under Islam, but said its use was allowed because the outbreak was an emergency. ## Editors’ Picks [![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/03/04/arts/03cul-young-sherlock/03cul-young-sherlock-thumbLarge.jpg)In ‘Young Sherlock,’ He’s a Gen Z Heartthrob](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/arts/television/young-sherlock.html) [![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/02/25/multimedia/25-alps-skiing-development-bvwc/25-alps-skiing-development-bvwc-thumbLarge.jpg)A Crisis in the Alps: Airbnb, Climate Change and Americans](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/travel/french-alps-problems-overdevelopment-climate-change.html) [![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/03/04/multimedia/04FD-REST-CORIMA-04-qjpb/04FD-REST-CORIMA-04-qjpb-thumbLarge-v2.jpg)Tortillas Cooked on a Wok? The Borderless Magic of a Chinatown Chef.](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/dining/corima-chinatown-restaurant-review.html) Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/world/asia/indonesia-sinovac-vaccine-halal.html#after-pp_edpick) In some parts of the country, however, [local Muslim leaders opposed using a haram vaccine](https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/islamic-edict-threatens-derail-indonesian-immunization-efforts). The program fell well short of its 95 percent target and ended [with nearly 10 million children unvaccinated](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196$18$30287-0/fulltext). Only 72 percent of the target group was vaccinated. Image ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/01/04/world/00indonesia-vaccine-2/merlin_181830381_76a11615-9dce-4bf5-af35-7822fba53a9d-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Thousands of billboards and banners have been erected across Indonesia to promote the government’s vaccination program. Credit...Ulet Ifansasti for The New York Times On billboards above the busy streets of Jakarta, the capital, a woman wearing a face mask and head scarf can be seen flexing her arm as images of the coronavirus float nearby. Thousands of such billboards and banners have been erected along high-traffic roadways across the country. The message: Vaccines protect you. To encourage widespread vaccinations, some regional governments have also passed new laws allowing for the punishment of people who refuse to get inoculated against the coronavirus. “The government will ensure that the vaccine is safe and effective, has minimal side effects and is, of course, halal,” said Wiku Adisasmito, spokesman for the national Covid-19 task force. “Regional governments will have the authority to make people obey and participate in the vaccination program so that herd immunity can be achieved easily.” With a population of 270 million, Indonesia hopes to achieve herd immunity by vaccinating roughly two-thirds of the population in just over a year. President Joko said Tuesday that he hoped it could be done even more quickly. Indonesia has ordered vaccines from several companies, but plans to rely mostly on Sinovac, which has already delivered three million doses. It is the only vaccine to have arrived in the country so far. Bio Farma plans to manufacture 122.5 million additional doses using raw materials provided by Sinovac. Image ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/01/04/world/00indonesia-vaccine-4/merlin_181830249_cd9f12d4-3901-4de4-ac7d-0ab751f56b33-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Visitors wore masks at the Bogor Botanical Gardens on New Year’s Eve. The government plans to vaccinate 181.5 million adults within 15 months.Credit...Ulet Ifansasti for The New York Times Like other countries, Indonesia is eagerly awaiting data from Stage 3 trials so that its Food and Drug Control Agency can evaluate the safety of Sinovac’s inoculation. Months ago, China began administering the Sinovac vaccine and one made by a second company, Sinopharm, even though human trials were not completed. Sinovac is expected to release the findings of its late-stage trials soon, with approval by the Chinese government to follow. But China has rarely been forthcoming about its vaccine data and has a [history of producing faulty vaccines](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/23/world/asia/china-vaccines-scandal-investigation.html) and tainted food products. In 2018, a scandal erupted over substandard doses of a vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, and over fabricated data for a rabies vaccine. In Indonesia, a nationwide survey conducted in September by the health ministry, the World Health Organization and Unicef found that health issues were of even greater concern than whether a coronavirus vaccine was halal. Dicky Budiman, an Indonesian epidemiologist at Griffith University in Australia, called on China to release scientific data from the inoculations so that Indonesia could evaluate the vaccines’ safety and effectiveness. “Transparency is one of the biggest challenges for China, especially with their vaccines,” he said. “This is a crucial time for China to show the world how they have improved the quality of their vaccines.” The Ulema Council said it had asked Sinovac repeatedly for documentation on the materials in the vaccine in order to make its determination. It is prepared to announce its ruling after Indonesia determines that the vaccine is safe and effective. Image ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/01/04/world/00indonesia-vaccine-3/merlin_181830360_252652ea-466d-4e5a-bc30-aa811f2a29a2-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Muti Arintawati, director of the Ulema Council’s Food, Drug and Cosmetic Analysis Agency, at the Global Halal Center in Bogor, near Jakarta.Credit...Ulet Ifansasti for The New York Times At the Global Halal Center near Jakarta, the council operates [laboratories](http://www.halalmui.org/mui14/main/page/tentang-lab-halal) in biotechnology, physics, chemistry and microbiology that it has recently used to test Sinovac’s vaccine for pig products. Its labs can test 500,000 product samples a year, said Muti Arintawati, director of the council’s Food, Drug and Cosmetics Analysis Agency. The council, founded in 1975 by representatives of major Islamic groups, has the authority to certify whether products and medications meet Islamic standards in Indonesia. Companies pay from \$180 to \$780 for the certification. Major Islamic groups such as Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, which together have some 140 million members, will join the effort to encourage the vaccine’s acceptance once it has been deemed safe and a fatwa has been issued. “We will give an explanation from the Islamic law perspective so that people are willing to be vaccinated,” said Ahmad Ishomuddin, Nahdlatul Ulama’s supreme leader. “I think only a small number of people will reject it because protecting life is a major purpose of religion.” Image ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/01/04/world/00indonesia-vaccine-5/merlin_181945260_8a9e2ced-a4cd-4d0a-a3db-571c27ed24e4-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) A shipment of Sinovac’s coronavirus vaccine was moved to the pharmacy storage room of a local health department in Semarang, Central Java province.Credit...Antara Foto, via Reuters Dera Menra Sijabat and Muktita Suhartono contributed reporting. The Coronavirus in Indonesia [![]()‘It’s Too Late’: In Sprawling Indonesia, Coronavirus Surges May 28, 2020](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/28/world/asia/indonesia-coronavirus-surge.html) [![]()In Indonesia, False Virus Cures Pushed by Those Who Should Know Better July 31, 2020](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/31/world/asia/indonesia-coronavirus.html) [![]()Indonesia overtakes the Philippines as the hardest-hit country in Southeast Asia. Oct. 16, 2020](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/16/world/indonesia-overtakes-the-philippines-as-the-hardest-hit-country-in-southeast-asia.html) [Richard C. Paddock](https://www.nytimes.com/by/richard-c-paddock) has worked as a foreign correspondent in 50 countries on five continents with postings in Moscow, Jakarta, Singapore and Bangkok. He has spent nearly a dozen years reporting on Southeast Asia, which he has covered since 2016 as a contributor to The Times. A version of this article appears in print on Jan. 6, 2021, Section A, Page 8 of the New York edition with the headline: Muslims in Indonesia Ask if Shots Are Halal. 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Readable Markdown	Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/world/asia/indonesia-sinovac-vaccine-halal.html#after-top) President Joko Widodo hopes to begin inoculations soon, but the vaccine from the Chinese company Sinovac still needs approval from safety regulators and an influential council of Muslim clerics. ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/01/04/world/00indonesia-vaccine-1/merlin_181830561_a7fb117b-d781-4c8d-adcd-186f3272d4e5-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) An employee at the Global Halal Center near Jakarta, where the coronavirus vaccine made by the Chinese company Sinovac was analyzed to determine the drug’s halal status in Indonesia.Credit...Ulet Ifansasti for The New York Times Jan. 5, 2021 The one-sentence letter didn’t say much. The coronavirus vaccine was “manufactured free of porcine materials,” Sinovac, the Chinese vaccine maker, wrote to Indonesia’s state-owned vaccine manufacturer in July. While the letter was promising, [Indonesian](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/11/world/asia/indonesia-plane-crash-fishermen.html) clerics needed more details. A vaccine laced with the smallest amount of pork DNA could dissuade some followers of Islam from inoculation in Indonesia, the country with the world’s largest Muslim population. Sinovac took months to provide more information, which came only this week. The Chinese company’s delayed response has been yet another challenge in Indonesia’s already fragile vaccine rollout. With the highest number of coronavirus infections in Southeast Asia, the country is eager to drum up support for its goal of inoculating 181.5 million adults within 15 months. But looming questions about the safety of the Sinovac vaccine and whether it is halal, or allowed under Islam, are complicating the government’s efforts. “There shouldn’t be any concern about whether this vaccine is halal or not halal,” said President Joko Widodo. “We are in an emergency situation because of the Covid pandemic.” Indonesia has recorded nearly 800,000 infections and more than 23,000 deaths, staggering numbers in a region where virus cases have remained relatively low. Inoculations are set to begin with health workers, soldiers and police officers in the coming weeks, once health authorities are satisfied that the Sinovac vaccine is safe and effective. Mr. Joko said he would go first to show there was nothing to fear. Image ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/01/04/world/00indonesia-vaccine-add/merlin_181364457_c2a4ddc2-51d1-40ae-8e62-c711e5b565e0-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) A cemetery in Medan, North Sumatra, where victims of Covid-19 have been buried. Indonesia has the highest number of coronavirus infections in all of Southeast Asia.Credit...Dedi Sinuhaji/EPA, via Shutterstock The vaccine must also undergo a separate approval process by the Ulema Council, an influential group of Muslim clerics that decides which products are halal in Indonesia. Islamic authorities in other countries where Muslims make up a sizable share of the population, including Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, have already ruled that [coronavirus vaccines are permissible](https://www.freepressjournal.in/world/uae-fatwa-council-says-covid-19-vaccine-with-pork-gelatin-permissible-for-muslims), even if they contain pork gelatin, which is used to stabilize many inoculations. Last month, the Vatican released a statement declaring coronavirus vaccines “morally acceptable” for Catholics who might be opposed to a vaccine developed with stem cells from fetuses aborted decades ago. Indonesians are still waiting for religious leaders to weigh in. “In pharmaceutical products, halal is one of the important elements after the safety, efficacy and quality of the vaccine itself,” said Bambang Heriyanto, a spokesman for Bio Farma, Indonesia’s state-owned vaccine manufacturer. The Ulema Council is expected to issue a decree, or fatwa, authorizing the use of the Sinovac vaccine in the coming weeks, but the nature of its findings could affect how widely it is accepted in Indonesia, especially among the country’s many conservative Muslims. During a measles outbreak in 2018, the government, backed by the World Health Organization, undertook an ambitious vaccination program, but the only vaccine available in sufficient quantities contained pig products. After analyzing the measles vaccine, the Ulema Council declared it haram, or forbidden under Islam, but said its use was allowed because the outbreak was an emergency. Image ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/01/04/world/00indonesia-vaccine-2/merlin_181830381_76a11615-9dce-4bf5-af35-7822fba53a9d-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Thousands of billboards and banners have been erected across Indonesia to promote the government’s vaccination program. Credit...Ulet Ifansasti for The New York Times On billboards above the busy streets of Jakarta, the capital, a woman wearing a face mask and head scarf can be seen flexing her arm as images of the coronavirus float nearby. Thousands of such billboards and banners have been erected along high-traffic roadways across the country. The message: Vaccines protect you. To encourage widespread vaccinations, some regional governments have also passed new laws allowing for the punishment of people who refuse to get inoculated against the coronavirus. “The government will ensure that the vaccine is safe and effective, has minimal side effects and is, of course, halal,” said Wiku Adisasmito, spokesman for the national Covid-19 task force. “Regional governments will have the authority to make people obey and participate in the vaccination program so that herd immunity can be achieved easily.” With a population of 270 million, Indonesia hopes to achieve herd immunity by vaccinating roughly two-thirds of the population in just over a year. President Joko said Tuesday that he hoped it could be done even more quickly. Indonesia has ordered vaccines from several companies, but plans to rely mostly on Sinovac, which has already delivered three million doses. It is the only vaccine to have arrived in the country so far. Bio Farma plans to manufacture 122.5 million additional doses using raw materials provided by Sinovac. Image ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/01/04/world/00indonesia-vaccine-4/merlin_181830249_cd9f12d4-3901-4de4-ac7d-0ab751f56b33-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Visitors wore masks at the Bogor Botanical Gardens on New Year’s Eve. The government plans to vaccinate 181.5 million adults within 15 months.Credit...Ulet Ifansasti for The New York Times Like other countries, Indonesia is eagerly awaiting data from Stage 3 trials so that its Food and Drug Control Agency can evaluate the safety of Sinovac’s inoculation. Months ago, China began administering the Sinovac vaccine and one made by a second company, Sinopharm, even though human trials were not completed. Sinovac is expected to release the findings of its late-stage trials soon, with approval by the Chinese government to follow. But China has rarely been forthcoming about its vaccine data and has a [history of producing faulty vaccines](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/23/world/asia/china-vaccines-scandal-investigation.html) and tainted food products. In 2018, a scandal erupted over substandard doses of a vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, and over fabricated data for a rabies vaccine. In Indonesia, a nationwide survey conducted in September by the health ministry, the World Health Organization and Unicef found that health issues were of even greater concern than whether a coronavirus vaccine was halal. Dicky Budiman, an Indonesian epidemiologist at Griffith University in Australia, called on China to release scientific data from the inoculations so that Indonesia could evaluate the vaccines’ safety and effectiveness. “Transparency is one of the biggest challenges for China, especially with their vaccines,” he said. “This is a crucial time for China to show the world how they have improved the quality of their vaccines.” The Ulema Council said it had asked Sinovac repeatedly for documentation on the materials in the vaccine in order to make its determination. It is prepared to announce its ruling after Indonesia determines that the vaccine is safe and effective. Image ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/01/04/world/00indonesia-vaccine-3/merlin_181830360_252652ea-466d-4e5a-bc30-aa811f2a29a2-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Muti Arintawati, director of the Ulema Council’s Food, Drug and Cosmetic Analysis Agency, at the Global Halal Center in Bogor, near Jakarta.Credit...Ulet Ifansasti for The New York Times At the Global Halal Center near Jakarta, the council operates [laboratories](http://www.halalmui.org/mui14/main/page/tentang-lab-halal) in biotechnology, physics, chemistry and microbiology that it has recently used to test Sinovac’s vaccine for pig products. Its labs can test 500,000 product samples a year, said Muti Arintawati, director of the council’s Food, Drug and Cosmetics Analysis Agency. The council, founded in 1975 by representatives of major Islamic groups, has the authority to certify whether products and medications meet Islamic standards in Indonesia. Companies pay from \$180 to \$780 for the certification. Major Islamic groups such as Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, which together have some 140 million members, will join the effort to encourage the vaccine’s acceptance once it has been deemed safe and a fatwa has been issued. “We will give an explanation from the Islamic law perspective so that people are willing to be vaccinated,” said Ahmad Ishomuddin, Nahdlatul Ulama’s supreme leader. “I think only a small number of people will reject it because protecting life is a major purpose of religion.” Image ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/01/04/world/00indonesia-vaccine-5/merlin_181945260_8a9e2ced-a4cd-4d0a-a3db-571c27ed24e4-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) A shipment of Sinovac’s coronavirus vaccine was moved to the pharmacy storage room of a local health department in Semarang, Central Java province.Credit...Antara Foto, via Reuters Dera Menra Sijabat and Muktita Suhartono contributed reporting. [Richard C. Paddock](https://www.nytimes.com/by/richard-c-paddock) has worked as a foreign correspondent in 50 countries on five continents with postings in Moscow, Jakarta, Singapore and Bangkok. He has spent nearly a dozen years reporting on Southeast Asia, which he has covered since 2016 as a contributor to The Times. A version of this article appears in print on Jan. 6, 2021, Section A, Page 8 of the New York edition with the headline: Muslims in Indonesia Ask if Shots Are Halal. 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