Halal vaccines can break health barriers, but education also called key

For global immunization efforts that have long struggled to square strict religious observance with public health, it could be a real shot in the arm.

AJ Pharma Holding has set up the first lab for producing halal vaccines in Malaysia. But the move to capture a potential $80 billion market for Shariah-compliant biological preparations for protecting against diseases could run into new challenges of perception. Namely, how to assure some Muslim populations that the very existence of explicitly halal vaccines should not, in and of itself, cast doubt on all other inoculation efforts.

“There’s an element of the more religious color you give something, the more resistance you create,” conceded AJ Pharma’s managing director Dr. Tabassum Khan.

At a time when anti-vaccination groups and skeptics are dragging down immunization rates, even in spite of indisputable science, Khan says the medical industry is doing anything it can to build global resilience.

One tool for doing so, he argues, is halal vaccines, which would not contain any porcine elements or alcohol. Some would be completely free of animal-based sources. About 10 such vaccines are under development.

‘MYTHS’ ABOUT VACCINATIONS

“There are a lot of pressure groups around the globe, including in Europe and the West, all of which are propagating myths about vaccinations that could be harmful,” said Khan, who is a physician by training. “If you add on to that a religious deterrence, that just further compounds the problem.”

A report in the Malaysian Insider from July pointed to concern from doctors that parents in Kuala Lumpur were refusing to allow their children to receive routine vaccines on religious grounds, despite assurances that all vaccines in the country are permissible under Islam.

Dr. Heidi Larson, who left UNICEF as the head of the Global Communication for Immunization in order to start the Vaccine Confidence Project, has encountered that kind of resistance before.

“It’s not with all Muslim communities, but it’s highly localized. There might be issues in Uttar Pradesh in India, or part of Northern Nigeria, but they could be OK once they were assured the producers of some vaccines were from Indonesia or another Muslim country,” Larson said.

“Some Muslim populations are quite reasonable. As with [breaking a fast] during Ramadhan, there are exceptions.”

Some objections may be ideological, religious, philosophical or simply an expression of anger or pushback due to feelings of marginalization, she said.

“Sometimes, it just has to be someone this patient trusts. A trusted peer, colleague, family member telling them, because at the end of the day some people are never going to change their minds,” Larson said.

EDUCATION KEY

Introducing halal vaccines would at least remove some stigma, but Khan says education about the benefits of any and all immunization — regardless of whether or not they’re classified as halal — should be a primary goal.

“Mindsets cannot be changed if you fight with people,” he said, noting that Islam promotes a “doctorate of necessity” that dictates that violating halal standards is permissible for life-saving reasons.

“The primary goal is to bring in vaccines, and then to see how many of these can be ‘halal-ized,’ but it’s important to comprehend that developing halal vaccines does not and should not undermine the importance of current vaccines,” Khan said.

Although AJ Pharma has received press for its halal vaccine efforts, Khan says a re-branding may be necessary to boost overall vaccine coverage.

“Instead of calling them ‘halal vaccines,’ I feel that we can start with the step of calling them ‘animal source-free vaccines,’ which is more palatable and acceptable to all quarters of society, irrespective of religion,” Khan said.

“But most importantly, if halal vaccines are to be produced, then medically and scientifically it has to be as good, or better than the existing vaccines. Otherwise it’s a waste of time and money.”

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