Halal or Haram? The COVID-19 Vaccine Discussion Among Twitter users in Malaysia

Abstract

Vaccine hesitancy is gaining attention due to the increasing spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia. Malaysia is a majority Muslim country and religion has a significant influence on the acceptance or rejection of vaccines. This is clearly seen through the disagreement over the halal status of vaccines. Social media has become a platform for discussion and dissemination of information and dis-information on vaccines. Thus, it has had a relatively significant influence on vaccine hesitancy among social media users. By analysing tweets from February 2020 to February 2021 using Twitter API, this paper highlights the discussion of COVID-19 vaccines' halal status on Twitter. This study focuses on the analysis of vaccination reluctancy among the Twitter users in Malaysia and found that the most prevalent theme from the discussion is the constructed religious narratives to justify scientifically misleading and false claims concerning vaccination represented on social media. This finding also calls for a deeper understanding of society's constructed knowledge concerning contemporary issues in the digital age on social media.

Keywords: COVID-19; Halal; Social media; Twitter discussion; Vaccine hesitancy.

Fig. 1

A tweet on the halal status of the COVID-19 vaccine from the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM)

Fig. 2

A tweet on COVID-19 vaccines’ ingredients

Fig. 3

A tweet on COVID-19 vaccines’ ingredients

Fig. 4

A tweet on the COVID-19 vaccines halal status

Fig. 5

A tweet on alternative or complementary treatments (TCAM) for COVID-19

Fig. 6

A tweet on misleading and harmful claims about COVID-19

Fig. 7

A tweet on misleading and harmful claims about COVID-19

Fig. 8

A tweet from concerned Twitter user on anti-vaccination propaganda

Fig. 9

A tweet on misleading claims from religious leader on COVID-19 vaccine

Fig. 10

A tweet on misleading claims from religious leader on COVID-19 vaccine