World News for Students of English

13-01-2021 15:00

Indonesia’s highest Muslim council aims to issue a ruling on whether a COVID-19 vaccine is halal, or permissible under Islam, before the country starts mass vaccination using a Chinese vaccine next week.

Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim-majority country and it plans to launch vaccinations on January 13^th; however, officials fear public resistance unless the vaccine is proven halal.

Every Muslim should consume halal products and avoid those that are haram, and this certainly doesn’t apply only to food and drinks, but also medicine. Gelatin from pigs is used as a stabilizer in some vaccines; however, the consumption of pork is strictly forbidden for Muslims.

Some Muslims said that it was okay to consume non-halal products in emergency situations. The Indonesian president said that he would be the first person to receive the vaccine shot in an effort to boost public acceptance of the vaccine.

Difficult words: halal (permissible or lawful according to Islamic law), haram (forbidden by Islamic law), gelatin (a colorless and tasteless protein that comes from animal body parts, and it is often used in food industry), stabilizer (a thing that helps something else stay together).

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