As the companies across the World race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine and countries scramble to secure doses, questions about the use of pork products which is banned by some religious groups have raised concerns about the possibility of disrupted immunization campaigns over particular religious followers. Vaccines to remain safe and effective during storage and transport companies use Pork-derived gelatin as a stabilizer. 

Whereas very few companies after a lot of hard work over years have developed pork-free vaccines like 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. Dr. Salman Waqar, general secretary of the British Islamic Medical Association said demand, existing supply chains, cost and the shorter shelf life of vaccines without porcine gelatin means the ingredient is likely to continue to be used in a majority of vaccines for years. 

The spokespersons of Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca have informed that pork products are not a part of their COVID-19 vaccines. The vaccines without gelatin free certification makes dilemma situation 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, Salman said. Dr. Harunor Rashid, an associate professor at the University of Sydney said 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 weren’t used. Rabbi David Stav, chairman of Tzohar, a rabbinical organization in Israel said If “it’s injected into the body, not (eaten) through the mouth,” then there is “no prohibition and no problem, especially when we are concerned about sicknesses". 

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