Referring to Quran and hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), the Shuroi Ulamo (Council of Ulema – Tajikistan’s highest Islamic institution) has called on Tajikistanis not to refuse vaccination against coronavirus.

A statement, posted on the Council’s official website, in particular, says,”…some people oppose the vaccination on the pretext that some foreign circles want to harm people through it.”  

“This attitude indicates one of two things: either they do not know Sharia or do not understand the dangerous consequences of the infection,” the statement says.  

The Council of Ulema calls on the country’s population (especially the elderly) to take the vaccine at special medical centers set up by the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Population (MoHSPP). 

Recall, several countries temporarily suspended their use of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine on March 11 after reports that some people developed blood clots, although there is no proof that the shot was responsible.

They reportedly resumed vaccinations with the AstraZeneca vaccine on March 19 after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said its initial investigation of possible side effects has concluded the vaccine is “safe and effective.”

As it had been reported earlier, India on March 8 delivered to Tajikistan 192,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, known as Covishield in India.  The vaccines arrived as part of India's commitment made to the world to use India's vaccine production and delivery capacity to help all of the human fight the Covid-19 pandemic.  Tajikistan expected to receive 624000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines by May through COVAX.