The outbreak began at a shrimp market in Samut Sakhon, a province southwest of Bangkok and a center of the seafood industry that is home to thousands of migrant workers.
"Today is just the first stage," Kiattiphum Wongrajit, the ministry's permanent secretary, told a news conference. "Further results will show a lot more infections."
He said up to 40,000 people would be tested in Samut Sakhon and nearby provinces, with over 10,000 tests to be conducted by Wednesday.
Migrant workers, mostly from Myanmar, lined up for testing on Sunday, along with some Thais. Most cases identified so far have been asymptomatic, health officials said.
Barbed wire surrounded the market on Sunday as authorities in Bangkok ordered all schools in three districts in the capital that have borders with Samut Sakhon, 45 kilometers (30 miles) away by road, to close until January 4.
The province is due to stay under lockdown and nighttime curfew until January 3, and Kiattiphum said the ministry expected to bring the situation under control in two to four weeks.
'We have to cut epidemic cycle'
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha posted on his Facebook account: "We will have to cut the epidemic cycle quickly. We already have experience in handling it."
Authorities in Bangkok also called on people to step up preventive measures by avoiding gatherings, while entertainment venues and restaurants must observe social distancing.
Organizers of New Year celebrations were told to seek official permission to go ahead, while companies were urged to get staff to work from home if possible.
Neighboring Cambodia meanwhile toughened requirements for people entering the country from Thailand.
Somsak Paneetatyasai, president of the Thai Shrimp Association, said the outbreak was bad news for shrimp exports, up to 30% of which come from Samut Sakhon. Thailand is one of the world's 10 biggest shrimp exporters.
The surge in coronavirus cases comes as Thailand attempts to revive a tourist industry devastated by the pandemic. On Thursday, Thailand eased restrictions to allow more foreign tourists to return.
Additional reporting by CNN's Kocha Olarn and Nectar Gan.
COLUMBUS, Ohio - After sharp increases through much of the fall, both coronavirus cases and hospitalizations have begun to decline in Ohio.
The 58,752 cases reported over the last week marked the lowest-seven day total since the first days of December, and the number of patients in hospitals across the state the last three days have been at the lowest levels since late November.
Among the possible factors: closing of many schools for in-person instruction starting last month, a 10 p.m. curfew instituted by Gov. Mike DeWine in mid-November, a public awareness effort to encourage people to avoid large holiday gatherings, and possible changes by some hospitals in considering when to admit patients.
Cases are still at a high level, however.
To date there have been 629,354 cases, 35,048 hospitalizations and 8,122 deaths reported by the Ohio Department of Health.
This means that 1-in-19 Ohioans is now known to have contracted the virus at some point this year.
The number of coronavirus cases reported by the state of Ohio has dropped each of the last four days, and the seven-day average is now near early-December levels.Rich Exner, cleveland.com
There were 4,807 coronavirus patients hospitalized across the state, according to the preliminary count for Monday from the Ohio Hospital Association, down from the record of 5,308 on Tuesday, Dec. 15.
Among the patients, 1,164 were being cared for in intensive care units, down from a record 1,318 on Tuesday.
On Sept. 22, the first day of fall, there were just 590 patients, including 199 in intensive care units, before shooting up sharply.
Thirty-two percent of the states hospital beds were reported vacant on Sunday, including 25% of the intensive care unit beds, though some regions and individual hospitals have reported operating near capacity.
The number of coronavirus patients in Ohio hospitals has dropped below recent highs, according to daily surveys by the Ohio Hospital Association.Rich Exner, cleveland.com
The 58,752 cases reported in the last week represented a 10.3% increase from a week ago, increasing from 570,602 to 629,354. The number reported declined each of the last four days, from 11,412, to 9,684, to 8,567, to 8,377 and finally to 6,548 on Monday.
There were 571 deaths reported in the last week, up 7.6% from 7,551 a week ago to 8,122 currently.
The reporting of deaths often lags weeks from when a person died, as state health officials await confirmations from coroners reports. November was the deadliest month to date, claiming at least 1,389 lives. Because of the delays, more recent death data is largely incomplete, but to date 998 deaths occurring in December have been reported.
The state reported 7,271,494 tests to date. This includes 364,448 in the last week.
Testing has dipped recently. During the previous four weeks, there were 405,022, 396,199, 387,155 and 415,682 tests reported.
Fewer coronavirus tests have been conducted in Ohio in recent weeks.Rich Exner, cleveland.com
The health department estimates that 454,354 Ohioans have recovered from COVID-19. This is not based on individual case information, but on the number of cases at least three weeks old that have not resulted in death.
Based on the estimate for recoveries, 166,878 Ohioans currently have the coronavirus, down from a record of 170,486 on Tuesday, Dec. 14.
The estimated number of active coronavirus cases in Ohio has dropped.Rich Exner, cleveland.com
The state is now reporting that the onset of symptoms was as early as January for 173 cases, with nine January cases added in just the last week. The seven earliest cases date to Jan. 2. Just in the last week, the health department added 24 cases from January.
The age range for cases is from under 1 to 111. The median age is 43 for all cases, and 80 for deaths.
The health department last updated the number of deaths for nursing home patients on Wednesday, with a total of 4,361 representing close to 56% of all known COVID-19 deaths in Ohio at that point. This share has dropped in recent months.
For all cases this year, more than three-fourths of the deaths have been to people age 70 and up.
By age group the deaths have broken down this way: under age 20 (4), in their 20s (12), in their 30s (58), in their 40s (111), in their 50s (426), in their 60s (1,097), in their 70s (2,110) and at least 80 years old (4,303). Those 80 and up accounted for 44% of deaths from all causes nationally in 2017.
But for hospitalizations, the cases are more spread out age-wise: under age 20 (719), in their 20s (1,398), in their 30s (1,908), in their 40s (2,813), in their 50s (5,156), in their 60s (7,452), in their 70s (8,221) and at least 80 years old (7,369).
Coronavirus deaths and hospitalizations by age group in Ohio.Rich Exner, cleveland.com
The counties with the most deaths are Cuyahoga (863), Franklin (695) and Lucas (505), with 40 more deaths 38 Cuyahoga, two in Franklin and 22 in Lucas.
For the deaths in which race was reported, 82% of the people are white, and 14% are Black. For total cases, 73% are white and 14% Black. Ohios population is 82% white and 13% Black, census estimates say.
Among all cases reported to date, 35,048 have been hospitalized, including 5,537 in intensive care, up from 32,264 hand 5,209 a week ago.
The counties with the most cases are Franklin (76,188), Cuyahoga (63,047) and Hamilton (47,264). They are the states three largest counties. Cases per capita are shown in the chart at the bottom of this story.
The first three cases were confirmed on March 9. The total topped 100,000 on Aug. 9, 200,000 on Oct. 26, 300,000 on Nov. 16, 400,000 on Nov. 28, 500,000 on Dec. 8 and 600,000 on Friday, Dec. 18.
Here is the growth in the running total of coronavirus cases reported in Ohio from March 9 through Monday, Dec. 21.Rich Exner, cleveland.com
The state on April 10 began new reporting standards to include more types of testing and cases identified from non-testing evidence. This has resulted in 58,550 probable cases being included in the total cases reported for Ohio to date, up from 48,135 a week ago.
Corrections in the data are made from day to day by the state. Sometimes the state has reduced the number of cases in individual counties from one day to the next as corrected residency information is received.
The chart below is based on the most recent case data from the Ohio Department of Health. Cleveland.com calculated the cases per 100,000 rates based on 2019 census population estimates.
Rich Exner, data analysis editor for cleveland.com, writes about numbers on a variety of topics. Follow on Twitter @RichExner. See other data-related stories at cleveland.com/datacentral.
Note to readers: There will not be a weekly update published on Dec. 28.
Some mobile users may need to use this link instead to view the county-by-county chart.
Previous stories
See coronavirus cases by day for each Ohio county, including per capita and cases in last seven days
Ohios coronavirus hospital patient count drops sharply in last week; now below late-November levels
Cuyahoga and nearly every other Ohio county now on red alert for coronavirus; Medina, Portage, Stark Summit improve from purple to red
7 end-of-the year money-saving ideas: picking tax brackets, IRA withdrawals, loan refinancing, more - Thats Rich!
See how many coronavirus cases have been identified in your ZIP code: searchable database
Congress is set to pass a nearly $1 trillion coronavirus relief bill that includes another round of stimulus payments for many taxpayers.
The slimmed-down checks are worth $600 for individuals earning up to $75,000 and couples earning $150,000, half the value of the first round of checks issued under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Stability, or CARES, Act. Taxpayers will also receive an additional $600 for each child under age 17.
Many Americans and economists have said that a one-time $600 payment is not enough to make up for months of missed rent and other bills. The federal relief package also includes enhanced unemployment benefits and funding for increased food aid and emergency rental assistance.
Here's what we know about the second round of economic impact payments:
The checks are worth $600 for individuals whose gross adjusted income was under $75,000 in 2019 and couples who earned under $150,000 the same income requirements as the first round of checks. The amount of the check then decreases by $5 for every $100 of income above those thresholds, phasing out completely at $87,000 for individuals and $174,000 for couples.
Dependents under age 17 are also eligible for $600 checks, and there's no cap on the number a household can receive. So if a single person earned $50,000 in 2019 and has four children under 17, the individual will be eligible for a $3,000 payment.
You need a Social Security number to qualify for a relief check. As noted above, individuals earning up to $75,000, and couples earning up to $150,000 will receive the full amount. After that, the checks will phase out as detailed above. Income is based on 2019 tax returns.
Once again, adult dependents do not qualify for a check. However, this time, eligible members of mixed-status families in which some members have Social Security numbers and some do not will be eligible for checks, says Kathleen Romig, senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Under the CARES Act, households that had a single member without a Social Security number disqualified the entire household from receiving a payment. Crucially, citizen family members will also be able to receive the first check retroactively if they meet the other eligibility requirements.
Yes, as long as you meet all of the other eligibility requirements.
The checks are not taxable.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told CNBC on Monday that checks could start being sent as soon as next week.
But arrival timelines will vary for different taxpayers. The IRS started sending out the first round of payments about two weeks after the CARES Act was enacted in the spring. However, it took months for some people to receive their checks as the IRS worked out kinks and collected taxpayer information. Some people still have not received the first payment.
This time around, the IRS already has most taxpayers' information and the infrastructure to send out the payments, so turnaround might be quicker for many people.
The checks will be sent via direct deposit if you've already provided the IRS with your bank account information. If you received the first check directly into your account, then you're all set.
If the IRS doesn't have your direct deposit info, you will likely get a check in the mail, or a pre-paid debit card like the last round of payments.
Levine reiterated the pleas that she, Gov. Tom Wolf, and other officials have been making for weeks now, urging Pennsylvanians not to travel for the holidays, to celebrate in-person only with immediate household members, to go out just when its necessary, and to follow other public health guidelines, such as wearing masks, washing hands, and keeping social distance from others during essential outings.
Katalin Karik works at BioNTech, the company that partnered with Pfizer to make the first COVID-19 vaccine to get emergency authorization in the United States. Jessica Kourkounis hide caption
Katalin Karik works at BioNTech, the company that partnered with Pfizer to make the first COVID-19 vaccine to get emergency authorization in the United States.
Hungarian-born scientist Katalin Karik believed in the potential of messenger RNA the genetic molecule at the heart of two new COVID-19 vaccines even when almost no one else did.
Karik began working with RNA as a student in Hungary. When funding for her job there ran out, Kariko immigrated to Philadelphia in 1985. Over the years, she's been rejected for grant after grant, threatened with deportation and demoted from her faculty job by a university that saw her research as a dead end.
Through it all, Karik just kept working.
If new COVID-19 vaccines help life in the U.S. get back to normal next year, the nation will have many immigrants such as Karik to thank. Scientists and investors born outside the U.S. played crucial roles in the development of vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. It's a remarkable vindication for the argument often made by the biotech industry that innovation depends on the free movement of people and ideas.
Now Karik is a senior vice president at BioNTech, the company that partnered with Pfizer to make the first COVID-19 vaccine to get emergency authorization in the United States. BioNTech is a company based in Germany and led by immigrants from Turkey.
President Trump listens as Moncef Slaoui, the former head of GlaxoSmithKline's vaccines division, speaks about coronavirus vaccine development in May. Slaoui, an immigrant, is the chief adviser to Operation Warp Speed. Drew Angerer/Getty Images hide caption
President Trump listens as Moncef Slaoui, the former head of GlaxoSmithKline's vaccines division, speaks about coronavirus vaccine development in May. Slaoui, an immigrant, is the chief adviser to Operation Warp Speed.
Immigrants are playing key roles in nearly every aspect of the vaccine effort in the United States. Even the chief adviser to Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration's vaccine distribution program, is an immigrant Moncef Slaoui, the former head of GlaxoSmithKline's vaccines department.
President Trump often takes credit for the record-breaking speed of vaccine development and for "unleashing America's scientific genius," as he puts it.
But people in the biotech industry say that American genius depends on a pool of global talent.
"We are an intellectual magnet for the best of the best from around the world," said Jeremy Levin, CEO of Ovid Therapeutics and chairman of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, the U.S. industry trade group.
Levin, who was born in South Africa, said high-skilled immigrants are attracted to the U.S. for its great educational institutions and for its biotech industry that's willing to take big risks.
"We in America are willing to take a chance," Levin said. "It is the willingness to fail in the endeavor to find a medicine that could make the difference to millions of people around the world. And that characteristic is what's drawn so many from abroad ... who are just going to have a go at it."
Jeremy Levin attends a news conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 2012. He is the CEO of Ovid Therapeutics and chairman of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. Nir Elias/Reuters hide caption
Jeremy Levin attends a news conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 2012. He is the CEO of Ovid Therapeutics and chairman of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization.
Levin said nearly one-third of the biotech workforce here was born outside the United States. If you also count the children of immigrants, he said, it's roughly half. But Levin worries it's gotten harder in recent years for those people to get here.
The Trump administration has placed more restrictions on immigrants who want to study and work in this country. Immigration hardliners accuse pharmaceutical companies and other tech-driven industries of using foreign workers to hold down wages.
The president says he wants to protect American jobs and often talks about immigrants as a threat and a burden. That's how he talks about the coronavirus as well, referring to it as the "China virus."
"It's a very racist comment," said Dr. Victor Dzau, president of the National Academy of Medicine, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C. He's an expert on global health who was born in China.
"We all recognize this appears to be a blame game, right? To divert your responsibility by saying that somebody else gave it to us," Dzau said. "A virus does not see any borders."
Dr. Victor Dzau, president of the National Academy of Medicine, attends the 2015 World Health Summit in Berlin. Jrg Carstensen/picture alliance via Getty Image hide caption
Dr. Victor Dzau, president of the National Academy of Medicine, attends the 2015 World Health Summit in Berlin.
The virus has spread around the world, killing at least 1.6 million people, including more than 300,000 in the United States. Now the U.S. has developed two vaccines, and doses are being shipped around the country.
Both use the mRNA technology pioneered in part by Karik at the University of Pennsylvania. At the time, Karik said, she applied for dozens of grants to support her work.
"I never get the grant. All of them were rejected," she said. "Nobody was really interested in messenger RNA therapy."
As the rejection letters piled up, Karik was demoted from her faculty position. But she persisted. "When you do science, you know, the whole wide world just does not exist. So as long as you have an idea and some experiments to do, you know, it is fun," she said.
Karik and her colleagues at Penn eventually solved some of the key problems holding the technology back.
This week, Moderna's vaccine became the second to win a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel's recommendation for emergency authorization. The company, which was started 10 years ago in Boston, is also led by immigrants.
"This country has done amazing things. And I think that a big part of that is people who bring in their own capabilities, their own dreams, aspirations," said Noubar Afeyan, Moderna's chairman. He was an early investor in the company and also runs his own venture capital firm, Flagship Pioneering.
Afeyan was born in Lebanon, lived in Montreal and trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He said he thinks there's a link between the immigrant experience and innovation.
"I think of innovation as a form of intellectual immigration," Afeyan said. "You leave your comforts behind you. You face unrecognizable challenges. You take nothing for granted. You don't feel like in your new country people owe you anything."
It took scientists at Moderna and BioNTech less than a year to bring these new vaccines to market. It was an unprecedented race against time made possible by decades of work from some of the best minds in the world.
The COVID-19 mRNA vaccines work by eliciting an immune response. That comes with some temporary side effects, like muscle aches or fever.
Pfizer and Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines are unlike any we've seen in the past. Instead of injecting people with a dead or weak version of the virus, like the flu shot, they use something called Messenger RNA, which trains the body to fight off coronavirus before ever coming in contact with it.
Since the vaccine puts your immune system to work, a lot of people are asking whether getting the vaccine will make you sick. The Verify team brought that question to the experts.
Will the COVID-19 vaccine make you sick?
Yes, but that means it's working.
In a Verify story back in November, Dr. Paul Spearman helped us explain how an mRNA vaccine works, starting with what Messenger RNA is:
It is a genetic code, basically, that is sort of ready and in someone's body to make protein, Dr. Spearman said.
Dr. Spearman said in the case of these vaccines, the mRNA has the blueprints for a protein of the coronavirus. It allows your muscles to start making these nasty proteins.
The immune system sees it as if the person had been infected, but it's just that one little piece, he said. So the immune system reacts to it in a very desirable way.
To break it down: mRNA vaccines give your body the genetic code of how to fight the virus.
An mRNA vaccine is designed to elicit a specific immune response in your body so it's ready to fight off the severe effects of coronavirus should you be infected. Dr. Barry Bloom says that's the reason you may feel sick for a few days after getting vaccinated.
"Virtually any vaccine that stimulates the immune response is going to produce a local reaction," Dr. Bloom said. "Any vaccine that contains RNA and encapsulated in lipids is very likely to stimulate an innate immune response."
Dr. Lisa Maragakis agreed and gave some examples of what this immune response could feel like.
"Vaccine developers report side effects that can include pain at the injection site, fever, muscle aches, fatigue and headaches, mostly lasting about a day or two," Dr. Maragakis told us via email. "If symptoms persist, you should call your doctor."
There have reportedly been four cases, two in Britain and two in Alaska, of people who received the Pfizer vaccine and experienced severe allergic reactions. Pfizer says they are monitoring and assessing these reports. They include the following guidance for vaccination providers:
"Appropriate medical treatment used to manage immediate allergic reactions must be immediately available in the event an acute anaphylactic reaction occurs following administration of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine."
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, explained that this is an example of the way that observations for safety don't end when clinical trials end.
"When the clinical trial gets its result, you have to keep monitoring for safety. And that's what's happening," Dr. Fauci says. "So what likely will be is that people who have a history of allergic reactions will be told either to not take this vaccine, or if you do take it, take it in a place where they're able to observe you, and if you do get an allergic reaction, to treat you right away."
You can watch the full interview with Dr. Fauci here:
The Verify team is keeping a close eye as more information and research is released pertaining to these allergic reactions.
Perhaps it goes without saying but producing quality journalism isn't cheap. At a time when newsroom resources and revenue across the country are declining, The Texas Tribune remains committed to sustaining our mission: creating a more engaged and informed Texas with every story we cover, every event we convene and every newsletter we send. As a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on members to help keep our stories free and our events open to the public. Do you value our journalism? Show us with your support.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said when he becomes a chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, he would push to vaccinate teachers as a priority.
SACRAMENTO, Calif Dr. Anthony Fauci took questions from California State University faculty on a range of topics, including when teachers could receive the new coronavirus vaccine.
Dr. Fauci said when he becomes a chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, he would push to vaccinate teachers as a priority.
"It's extremely important to get children back in school and kept in school and the idea of vaccinating teachers is very high up in the priority," Dr. Fauci said.
Dr. Fauci said essential workers could be vaccinated by spring if it all goes according to plan.
"By the time we get April, May, June, July, August, we can get the overwhelming majority of people in this country vaccinated," Dr. Fauci said.
Some school districts are considering in-classroom learning this winter. Dr. Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease doctor, said that if people stick to the vaccine rollout schedule, he's willing to predict when students could return to the classroom.
"By the time we get to the 2021-2022 term I think we could be in good shape," Dr. Fauci said. "So I am cautiously optimistic that we can do that and get back to some form of normality.
UC Davis officials sent out a letter that they're optimistic they could return to pre-pandemic in-person learning for the Fall quarter of 2021.
Continue the conversation with Chris on Facebook.
Read more from ABC10
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) The Maryland Department of Health has launched its new COVID-19 vaccine information page.
The page can be found by clicking here.
CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE:
The page, which is part of MDHs COVID-19 public information hub, will serve as the home base for COVID-19 vaccine updates as information continues to evolve.
The new page includes information about Maryland COVID-19 vaccine priority groups; vaccine status and dosing information; and resources about vaccine development, clinical studies and emergency use authorization approval.
For the latest information on coronavirus go to theMaryland Health Departments websiteor call 211. You can find all of WJZs coverage oncoronavirus in Maryland here.
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- In October, Indonesian diplomats and Muslim clerics stepped off a plane in China. While the diplomats were there to finalize deals to ensure millions of doses reached Indonesian citizens, the clerics had a much different concern: Whether the COVID-19 vaccine was permissible for use under Islamic law.
As companies race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine and countries scramble to secure doses, questions about the use of pork products banned by some religious groups has raised concerns about the possibility of disrupted immunization campaigns.
Pork-derived gelatin has been widely used as a stabilizer to ensure vaccines remain safe and effective during storage and transport. Some companies have worked for years to develop pork-free vaccines: Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis has produced a pork-free meningitis vaccine, while Saudi- and Malaysia-based AJ Pharma is currently working on one of their own.
But demand, existing supply chains, cost and the shorter shelf life of vaccines not containing porcine gelatin means the ingredient is likely to continue to be used in a majority of vaccines for years, said Dr. Salman Waqar, general secretary of the British Islamic Medical Association.
Spokespeople for Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca have said that pork products are not part of their COVID-19 vaccines. But limited supply and preexisting deals worth millions of dollars with other companies means that some countries with large Muslim populations, such as Indonesia, will receive vaccines that have not yet been certified to be gelatin-free.
This presents a dilemma for religious communities, including Orthodox Jews and Muslims, where the consumption of pork products is deemed religiously unclean, and how the ban is applied to medicine, he said.
Theres a difference of opinion amongst Islamic scholars as to whether you take something like pork gelatin and make it undergo a rigorous chemical transformation," Waqar said. Is that still considered to be religiously impure for you to take?
The majority consensus from past debates over pork gelatin use in vaccines is that it is permissible under Islamic law, as greater harm would occur if the vaccines werent used, said Dr. Harunor Rashid, an associate professor at the University of Sydney.
There's a similar assessment by a broad consensus of religious leaders in the Orthodox Jewish community as well.
According to the Jewish law, the prohibition on eating pork or using pork is only forbidden when its a natural way of eating it, said Rabbi David Stav, chairman of Tzohar, a rabbinical organization in Israel.
If its injected into the body, not (eaten) through the mouth," then there is no prohibition and no problem, especially when we are concerned about sicknesses, he said.
Yet there have been dissenting opinions on the issue some with serious health consequences for Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population, some 225 million.
In 2018, the Indonesian Ulema Council, the Muslim clerical body that issues certifications that a product is halal, or permissible under Islamic law, decreed that the measles and rubella vaccines were haram, or unlawful, because of the gelatin. Religious and community leaders began to urge parents to not allow their children to be vaccinated.
Measles cases subsequently spiked, giving Indonesia the third-highest rate of measles in the world, said Rachel Howard, director of the health care market research group Research Partnership.
A decree was later issued by the Muslim clerical body saying it was permissible to receive the vaccine, but cultural taboos still led to continued low vaccination rates, Howard said.
Our studies have found that some Muslims in Indonesia feel uncomfortable with accepting vaccinations containing these ingredients," even when the Muslim authority issues guidelines saying they are permitted, she said.
Governments have taken steps to address the issue. In Malaysia, where the halal status of vaccines has been identified as the biggest issue among Muslim parents, stricter laws have been enacted so that parents must vaccinate their children or face fines and jail time. In Pakistan, where there has been waning vaccine confidence for religious and political reasons, parents have been jailed for refusing to vaccinate their children against polio.
But with rising vaccine hesitancy and misinformation spreading around the globe, including in religious communities, Rashid said community engagement is absolutely necessary.
It could be disastrous, if there is not strong community engagement from governments and health care workers, he said.
In Indonesia, the government has already said it will include the Muslim clerical body in the COVID-19 vaccine procurement and certification process.
Public communication regarding the halal status, price, quality and distribution must be well-prepared, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said in October.
While they were in China in the fall, the Indonesian clerics inspected China's Sinovac Biotech facilities, and clinical trials involving some 1,620 volunteers are also underway in Indonesia for the company's vaccine. The government has announced several COVID-19 vaccine procurement deals with the company totaling millions of doses.
Sinovac Biotech, as well as Chinese companies Sinopharm and CanSino Biologics which all have COVID-19 vaccines in late-stage clinical trials and deals selling millions of doses around the world did not respond to Associated Press requests for ingredient information.
In China, none of the COVID-19 vaccines has been granted final market approval, but more than 1 million health care workers and others who have been deemed at high risk of infection have received vaccines under emergency use permission. The companies have yet to disclose how effective the vaccines are or possible side effects.
Pakistan is late-stage clinical trials of the CanSino Biologics vaccine. Bangladesh previously had an agreement with Sinovac Biotech to conduct clinical trials in the country, but the trials have been delayed due to a funding dispute. Both countries have some of the largest Muslim populations in the world.
While health care workers on the ground in Indonesia are still largely engaged in efforts to contain the virus as numbers continue to surge, Waqar said government efforts to reassure Indonesians will be key to a successful immunization campaign as COVID-19 vaccines are approved for use.
But, he said, companies producing the vaccines must also be part of such community outreach.
The more they are transparent, the more they are open and honest about their product, the more likely it is that there are communities that have confidence in the product and will be able to have informed discussions about what it is they want to do, he said.
Because, ultimately, it is the choice of individuals.
Associated Press writers Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
