Three healthcare 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 stabiliser that is derived from pigs.
Pork-derived gelatin is widely used as a stabiliser 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 stabilisers can be used under religious law, as can other medical products with pig-derived ingredients, under certain conditions.
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