'Believers are full of doubts': Sputnik V creators convince the mufti of Moscow of halalness of the vaccine

In the composition of the Sputnik V vaccine, there are no forbidden components from the point of view of Islam. This was stated at the round table discussion on the topic of halal vaccines against coronavirus by the head of the laboratory of mechanisms of population variability of pathogenic microorganisms at the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Vladimir Gushchin.

He added that anyone can get acquainted with the composition of the drug. The environments that are used in the development of the vaccine are completely chemically defined. There are no components of any animal extracts, serums and other things, RIA Novosti reports Gushchin's words.

Before the meeting with the Muslims, the scientists looked at what components Islam prohibits. In particular, these are components of “dead animals, pigs, blood, and other things”. Sputnik V doesn't contain any of these.

The Mufti of Moscow, Ildar Alyautdinov, noted that Muslims are wary of COVID-19 vaccines. The clergy intends to investigate the safety of the vaccine and its permissiveness from the point of view of Islam.

“In general, believers — and I communicate with a huge number of people — are permeated with doubts. They are permeated with opinions circulating on the Internet. And they say that they will wait a year or more," the news agency quotes him.

In late January, the Muslim Spiritual Board of Tatarstan addressed to the developers of the Russian vaccines against coronavirus Sputnik V and EpiVakKorona with a request to disclose the ingredients for vaccine testing on halalness. The specialists of the Gamaleya Center, where they developed the Sputnik V vaccine, already responded that the drug does not contain any components of human origin.

Last week, the deputy chairman of the council, chairman of the MSB of Moscow, Ildar Alyautdinov, said that the Council of Ulema (theologians) of the MSB of Russia will issue a fatwa (theological opinion) on the cases in which Muslims can be vaccinated with coronavirus vaccines, if they contain components that can not be used by believers.