SUMENEP, Indonesia (AP) — Three health care workers rode motorbikes into the Indonesian city of Sumenep, carrying doses of measles vaccine and a list of children who needed them. With blue medical boxes in hand, they went from house to house administering the life-saving shots.
The health workers on wheels are part of the regional government’s latest efforts to curb a deadly measles outbreak on Madura Island that has persisted for the past nine months. More than 2,600 children have already been infected this year and 20 have died.
But efforts to stop the outbreak from spreading through the predominately Muslim population are being hindered in part by concerns that some measles vaccines may not meet Islam’s halal standards because they use a stabilizer that is derived from pigs.
Pork-derived gelatin is widely used as a stabilizer to ensure vaccines remain safe and effective during storage and transport, presenting a dilemma to religious communities that view pigs as ritually unclean. Many Islamic scholars say that vaccines with gelatin stabilizers can be used under religious law, as can other medical products with pig-derived ingredients, under certain conditions.
Indonesian religious leaders ruled in 2018 that vaccines with pig gelatin are haram, or forbidden, but advised Muslims that they should be used until other shots are available “for the benefit of society,” said Ahmad Syamsuri, the head of Disease Control and Prevention at the Sumenep Health Office.
Religious concerns drive vaccine hesitancy for some
In Sumenep, many are reluctant to even discuss their religious concerns.
Pujiati Wahyuni, a 31-year-o …