ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani prime minister’s special adviser on religious harmony and the Middle East, Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, announced on Monday that a group of major Pakistani religious clerics had declared through a fatwa, or decree, that it was permissible under Islamic law to receive the coronavirus vaccine.
Though Pakistan’s COVID-19 vaccination drive has been underway since February, with health care workers as priority, a poll of medical workers conducted by Gallup Pakistan and a national physicians’ association last month showed that just over half of Pakistan’s health workers had received a COVID-19 shot by the first week or March and nearly half had concerns over China’s Sinopharm, the only vaccine available in Pakistan so far.
Another Gallup poll released in January said 49% Pakistanis said they would not get the vaccine even if it were free.
Virus infection numbers have also sharply risen this month in the majority Muslim nation that has had a problematic history with vaccination, and where vaccine misinformation and mistrust is rampant. Polio vaccination drives in Pakistan — the only country besides Afghanistan where the disease is still endemic — have had to grapple with militant attacks and conspiracy theories that the shots are a Western ploy to sterilize Muslims.
“Darul Afta Pakistan has issued a fatwa declaring that vaccination against coronavirus is legal and permissible in accordance with Shari’ah,” Ashrafi said at a press conference. “The fatwa of Darul Afta Pakistan also stated that philanthropists are also allowed to buy vaccines for those who are entitled to Zakat [Islamic charity].”
“The fatwa is being issued with the consent and consultation of Ulemas-Muftis and leading religious scholars of Darul Afta Pakistan,” he added. “Islamic law commands to protect oneself and others from harm, and it is absolutely not right to spread rumors about the corona vaccine.”
Replying to a question, Ashrafi said there was no plan to close mosques during or before Ramadan.
“Mosques in Pakistan were open even at that time when mosques were closed all over the world on account of the coronavirus pandemic,” he said. “The Prime Minister of Pakistan has an explicit stance that the only way to our salvation and betterment is to continue raising the voice of ‘Allah Akbar’ from the mosques, but it is also necessary to take precautions.”
Replying to another question, Ashrafi said supply of vaccines for Hajj and Umrah pilgrims would be ensured as per the instructions of the Saudi government, adding that PM Khan had instructed that all precautionary measures mentioned by Saudi Arabia for Hajj and Umrah pilgrims be fully implemented and vaccines provided to pilgrims if Hajj took place this year with foreign pilgrims.