By Sumaila Zaman

Copyright india

Madura Island in Indonesia is experiencing a serious measles outbreak with more than 2600 children infected within the past nine months and 20 infants have died from the disease. The health department has started a vaccination campaign door-to-door to try to stop the disease. According to the AP report health workers on motorbikes with medical boxes are visiting villages to vaccinate children against measles. However the greatest challenge in this fight is not medical but rather social and religious hesitation as suspicion is growing among many Muslims the predominant population in the area that the gelatin used in the vaccine is derived from pigs.
What is causing the measles outbreak in Indonesia’s Madura Island?
Efforts to limit the measles outbreak especially as it affects the largely Muslim population are further complicated by worries that some vaccines may not be halal. This is due to the fact that some measles vaccines use pork-derived gelatin as a stabilizer to keep them safe and effective for transport and storage.
Pigs are considered ritually unclean in Islam which creates some hesitation in some communities. Nonetheless many Islamic clerics have said that vaccines that employ gelatin or any other pig-derived substance can be used under religious law as can other medical products with pig-derived ingredients under certain conditions reported AP.
When did the outbreak begin and how has it spread over the past nine months?
Health professionals think that the measles vaccine is the most effective way to eliminate this type of infection to save the lives of children. Without it the infection can spread very rapidly and affect many unvaccinated children.
But of course the issue is that many parents refused vaccination out of religious beliefs thinking it is religiously forbidden (haram). Gelatin is used in the vaccine to help keep it safe and effective over time and gelatin is primarily made from pigs which is haram in Islam.
Who are the religious leaders advising on the use of vaccines in the Muslim community?
The result of this was that religious leaders in Indonesia ruled that these vaccines are haram (forbidden) in 2018. But also ruled that if there are no options and the well-being of society is at risk using the vaccine would be acceptable in the principle “for the benefit of society” said Ahmad Syamsuri the head of Disease Control and Prevention at the Sumenep Health Office reported AP.
In August the health department initiated a large-scale immunization program in which close to 78000 doses were delivered directly to households schools and clinics. The departments efforts however are often hampered by peoples reluctance to discuss vaccinations even as an initial step.