A religious leader in the Bangsamoro Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) has appealed to parents to get their children vaccinated against measles as the number of cases in the region continues to rise.

Bangsamoro Grand Mufti Sheik Abdulrauf Guialani aired the call on Thursday, as he assured people in the region that the vaccines are safe and healthy.

“Please allow your children to be vaccinated. I assure you that the vaccines are safe and ‘halal’ (permissive) in Islam according to the study by the Ulama (Islamic scholars),” Guialani said.

Dr. Qarneyn Abas, deputy minister of BARMM’s Ministry of Health (MOH), said the number of measles cases in the region has risen to 848 since January, with three fatalities.

Abas admitted that the parents’ hesitancy to have their children vaccinated remained a significant challenge for more than 2,590 village health workers in their ongoing vaccination drive.

He noted that after thorough study and research, the Muslim religious leaders came up with a “fatwa” (edict) in 2019 declaring vaccination is allowed in Islam.

To arrest the measles outbreak, the MOH-BARMM launched a massive 15-day vaccination campaign on April 1 to reach 1.3 million vulnerable children in the region.

As of Wednesday, the MOH-BARMM recorded 232,880 children who received the measles vaccines. (PNA)