The world is hungry for mRNA COVID vaccines like Pfizer’s. But we’re short of vital components

Archa Fox, The University of Western Australia and Pall Thordarson, UNSWGiven the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is no longer recommended for under-50s following news of very rare blood clots, Australia is looking to other vaccines to plug the gap.

Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine will become the mainstay of the rollout, with 40 million doses expected to arrive before year’s end.

But Australia isn’t the only country eager to get its hand on this vaccine.

Skyrocketing demand coupled with shortages of vital components is leading to bottlenecks in the supply chain of this and other mRNA vaccines, delaying vaccine supplies.

The Victorian government also announced last week it would provide A$50 million to set up local manufacturing of mRNA vaccines in Australia. It’s feasible supply chain issues could also impact local manufacturing of mRNA vaccines.

So what are the missing supplies for making mRNA vaccines?

---

Read more:
What is mRNA? The messenger molecule that’s been in every living cell for billions of years is the key ingredient in some COVID-19 vaccines

---

The shortages slowing mRNA vaccine production

1. mRNA manufacturing and capping

Manufacturing mRNA vaccines is kind of like making a car, with an assembly line and many steps. Each step needs to lead to the next and flow smoothly to make the final product.

COVID mRNA vaccine manufacturing starts with making the “messenger RNA”, the instructions that tell our cells to make the coronavirus’ spike proteins. The mRNA is produced in reactor vessels, where protein enzymes track along a DNA template and copy that DNA sequence into RNA form.

The first shortage is in sterile, single-use plastic bags which sit inside the metal reactor vessels used for making the mRNA, almost like a bin liner. Several suppliers of these plastic liners are ramping up production so it’s anticipated this shortage won’t last too long.

The second main shortage relates to “capping” the mRNA at one end. Capping involves adding a chemical molecule to the mRNA which stops the mRNA breaking down too quickly and helps our cells use the mRNA to make protein. Early on during the worldwide upscaling of mRNA manufacturing, rumours abounded that the enzymes and raw materials to make the mRNA cap were running short, given related enzymes used for COVID tests were also in short supply.

However, while only a few players dominate the field, this doesn’t seem to be a bottleneck now. But it does still remain one of the most costly parts of the mRNA production process.

2. Lipids in nanoparticles

The main bottleneck right now is the supply of some of the lipids making the nanoparticles that protect the mRNA and deliver it into our cells.

One lipid in particular, a so-called “cationic lipid”, wraps around the mRNA and then releases it inside the cell. Several chemical synthesis steps are required to make these cationic lipids, and prior to COVID only a handful of manufacturers worldwide were making these, and only on a fairly small scale.

Upscaling this production of cationic lipids has been even harder than setting up the mRNA production. Currently, four companies — Croda/Avanti, CordenPharma, Evonik and Merck — are the main manufacturers of these lipids.

As an indication of how serious this shortfall in lipids is, in December 2020 former US President Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to assist Pfizer in accessing more lipids.

Why do we have these shortages?

The reasons for these shortages are complex. In most cases, demand has outstripped supply. In some cases, some countries or companies have been stockpiling some of these components. “Operation Warp Speed”, initiated by the Trump administration to speed up COVID vaccine development, used its financial clout throughout 2020 to buy up and secure many vaccine components including vials and lipids. This has put the vaccine manufacturers based in the United States in a good position, including Moderna and several Pfizer sites.

For some materials, the reason for the shortfall is simply that they’re hard to make. The bespoke cationic lipids are chemically synthesised in ten steps that all have to performed under strict quality control. Even if the equipment is ready, setting up such a manufacturing process takes months.

How could these shortages impact future mRNA manufacturing in Australia?

When Victoria’s new mRNA manufacturing facility comes online, hopefully in the next 12-24 months, some of these global shortages may still be plaguing the worldwide supply chains. This shouldn’t stop our efforts on that front as raw material supplies are rapidly increasing.

Australia should also do more manufacturing of small molecule active pharmaceutical ingredients, that is, the biologically active component in each drug, including lipids and other building blocks of mRNA. Australia imports over 90% of its drugs from overseas. Making active pharmaceutical ingredients is important, not just for COVID vaccines but more generally.

Australia nearly ran out of some essential drugs, like ventolin, in the early days of the COVID-19 crisis. This was due to both Australians’ panic buying, as well as COVID-hit Chinese factories slowing down their manufacturing, leading to a lack of access to these ingredients for our most commonly used drugs. The added benefits of locally based manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients is we’d be part of the solution when components are in short supply in future.

Australia also has a very strong research community in mRNA and nanomedicine. There are several world-leading groups working on creating better lipid nanoparticles for the delivery of mRNA and other medical products.

Having access to local manufacturing capability of active pharmaceutical ingredients would therefore transform the ability of Australian researchers to lead the way in developing the next blockbuster medical technology based on mRNA or nanoparticle delivery.

---

Read more:
3 mRNA vaccines researchers are working on (that aren’t COVID)

---

Archa Fox, Associate Professor and ARC Future Fellow, The University of Western Australia and Pall Thordarson, Professor, Chemistry, UNSW

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

What steps hospitals can take if coronavirus leads to a shortage of beds

Gerard Fitzgerald, Queensland University of Technology

The number of COVID-19 cases in Australian continues to grow with new cases confirmed each day.

Of those who get ill, about 20% will have moderate or severe illness that requires hospitalisation.

Based on experience in China, of those admitted, about 26% will require a stay in an intensive care unit (ICU) and 17% mechanical ventilation.

---

Read more:
How we’ll avoid Australia’s hospitals being crippled by coronavirus

---

So what happens if we run out of hospital beds for patients with COVID-19?

Overwhelmed health systems

The epidemic is currently under control in Hubei but continuing to expand rapidly in Italy which is currently overwhelmed by this disease and its health system floundering.

A report this month in the New England Journal of Medicine describes the impact of this outbreak in Italy: operating rooms turned into ICUs, patients admitted for other reasons contracting the disease and health workers falling ill.

In Australia, as of this morning there were more than 1,800 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 344 new cases since 6am yesterday.

We have an extensive health capability in Australia with around 94,000 hospital beds (61,000 in public hospitals) including 2,200 ICU beds. We also have about 800,000 people working in health services including 350,000 nurses and 90,000 doctors.

At present in Australia, the number of cases is not at a level that would challenge our health treatment capability.

But health personnel are stretched undertaking contact tracing to understand how the infection is spreading, data collection and analysis, and implementing enhanced infection control procedures.

Similarly the laboratory system is being challenged by increased testing rates and primary care services are likely to be stretched by responding to considerable community concern.

---

Read more:
State-by-state: how Australia’s new coronavirus rules will affect you

---

So, if demand continues to increase, what can our health system do to surge the response?

As the numbers grow

The surge requirements are not one-dimensional. People often speak about the capacity of the system to surge the amount of space, staff and stuff. Each of these has limitations.

The space must be appropriate to need.

The surge in staff must take into consideration the impact this event has on staff availability and the risk they are taking on.

Surging consumables and equipment depends on supply chains. The domains are complementary. Increasing ventilators alone without having sufficient staff to operate them is futile.

In addition, people will continue to get sick from other causes. Indeed, there is often a danger in disaster response in which all of the attention is focused on those with the disease and other patients including some who are serious and critically ill are relatively ignored.

A four tier response

Health system responses will escalate as demands increase and may be broadly categorised into four tiers.

The first tier is when there is a relatively small epidemic. Health systems will seek to concentrate the care into a small number of facilities, thus concentrating the expertise and maximising the infection control. This is what is happening now.

The second level of response occurs when health facilities need to create additional internal capacity or to refocus existing capacity. Common strategies involve cancelling elective surgery, early discharge and relocation of patients to other facilities.

The third tier of response occurs when additional capacity has to be created. Options include recommissioning purpose-built facilities (closed hospitals) or by taking over suitable alternatives such as hotels.

Hotels can be useful for recuperating patients who require mainly observation and support. They are facilities that can be easily and rapidly converted to include appropriate levels of infection control.

Victoria has announced funding for an extra 269 hospital beds, including 84 at Melbourne’s old Peter Mac Hospital, and the former Baxter House Hospital in Geelong will be recommissioned.

In South Australia, new facilities will be set up at the recently decommissioned ECH College Grove and Wakefield hospitals providing an extra 188 beds.

Additional space and equipment is one thing, but not helpful as we need people to care for the patients and run the ventilators. We need to protect the existing staff wherever possible.

Additional staff can be found among recently retired practitioners and students, and by redirecting personnel from other (particularly non-clinical) areas.

But a word of caution. This is not a time to learn new skills. Familiarity leads to efficiency and so unfamiliar staff can be best used to help and support and to undertake non-technical roles.

Hard decisions at tier four

The fourth tier occurs when a system is overwhelmed, as in Italy and other European countries at present. This is when the demand for care exceeds any possibility of providing that care equally to all.

In this case, very difficult decisions have to be made involving triage of patients and the allocation of resources.

We have not had to implement such responses in this country since perhaps the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918/1919. But such decisions based on risk and possible benefit are not unusual.

---

Read more:
Coronavirus: how to access the medicines you and your family need

---

Decisions about whether to resuscitate or operate are made commonly but mostly focused on the likely benefit to the individual and are made in partnership with the patient and their carers.

In this circumstance, very hard decisions will have to made about relative benefit to preserve the health system’s capacity for people who are more likely to survive.

To support this, we would need to identify and communicate what is known as “Crisis standards of care” so that there is a consistent, system-wide approach. The legal and ethical aspects of this will need agreement not only by medical authorities but more broadly in the community.

---

Read more:
The coronavirus pandemic is forcing us to ask some very hard questions. But are we ready for the answers?

---

Gerard Fitzgerald, Emeritus Professor, School of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Coronavirus: how worried should I be about the shortage of face masks? Or can I just use a scarf?

from www.shutterstock.com

C Raina MacIntyre, UNSW and Abrar Ahmad Chughtai, UNSW

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has just declared the coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

There have been nearly 10,000 cases of the so-called 2019-nCoV in China, 23 countries affected and more than 213 deaths globally.

China, Germany, the US and several other countries confirmed the virus can spread person to person, even from people without any symptoms.

Now there are reports of face mask shortages around the world, including Australia, the US and in many cities of China.

How concerned should we be about these shortages? Or can we just wrap a scarf or piece of cloth around our face to protect against infection?

---

Read more:
How contagious is the Wuhan coronavirus and can you spread it before symptoms start?

---

How important are face masks?

For a disease with no drug or vaccine yet, non-pharmaceutical measures are the mainstay of control. This includes personal protective equipment, such as face masks.

But the type of face masks we typically see (surgical masks) do not provide a seal around the face or filtration of airborne particles, like those that may carry coronavirus.

They do however provide a limited physical barrier against you transferring the virus from your hand to the face, or from large droplets and splashes of fluid.

You also need to put on and remove your mask properly, as this advice from the World Health Organisation shows.

Make sure your face mask is the right way round, says the World Health Organisation.

Disposable respirators reduce the risk of respiratory infections. They are designed to fit around the face and to filter 95% of airborne particles. However, these should be reserved for health workers, who need them most.

Do we really need these masks anyway?

In the disease epicentre, Wuhan, or on an evacuation flight out of Wuhan, face masks are a sensible precaution. They are also needed in other Chinese cities that are affected by the outbreak and where transmission is ongoing.

However, in countries where transmission is not widespread and there are only a handful of cases being treated in hospital isolation rooms, masks serve no purpose in the community.

For example, there is no need for the general public to use face masks in Australia, US and other counties where a few imported cases are reported, and the risk of catching the virus is low.

---

Read more:
The Wuhan coronavirus is now in Australia – here’s what you need to know

---

Panic buying will result in a lack of supplies when we need them most, for instance, if the number of cases escalates dramatically. During the H1N1 influenza pandemic in 2009, the WHO did not recommend the general public use face masks.

The case is different for health workers, who face greater risks. It is essential we provide health workers with the best protection, because if they get sick or die, we lose our ability to fight the epidemic. During the SARS epidemic, 21% of all cases globally were health workers.

---

Read more:
SARS, MERS …? Preparing for the next coronavirus pandemic

---

How concerned should we be about the shortage of face masks?

This is a concern, especially if people hoard or stockpile face masks when there is no need. We saw a shortage of masks early during the 2009 influenza pandemic. The surge in demand during such events also results in higher prices.

Countries have started releasing stockpiles of masks and other personal protective equipment to the health system. For example, the Australian government this week released one million masks for general practices and pharmacists from the national medical stockpile.

There is also an existing shortage of masks in some areas of Australia due to the
bushfire response and face masks from the national stockpile have mainly been released in those areas.

What happens if the situation gets worse?

The number of cases is expected to increase and a large quantity of face masks may be needed.

If the current situation becomes a pandemic (an epidemic that goes global), we could be facing a much greater demand for personal protective equipment in the health sector alone.

In a modelled serious epidemic in Sydney of smallpox, if health workers use two disposable respirators a day for 6 months, over 30 million respirators will be needed for 100,000 clinical health workers.

---

Read more:
What is a super spreader? An infectious disease expert explains

---

China is the largest producer of face masks globally and it has already stepped up production to meet the high demand.

If large outbreaks happen in other countries, China may not be able to meet the demand of face masks, respirators and other medical supplies.

Not all face masks are up to the job

Another problem is the sale of low-quality face masks due to a shortage of products on the market, as has been reported in China and Hong Kong.

Face masks are not regulated, may not filter the air, and also typically allow large amounts of air in through the sides. With a shortage of masks, low-quality masks could be exported to other countries.

---

Read more:
I’ve always wondered: why many people in Asian countries wear masks, and whether they work

---

If I can’t get hold of a mask, can I wrap a scarf around my face?

Wrapping cloth around your face probably will not protect you. That’s because a scarf or a hanky does not provide a tight fit around the face, isn’t designed to filter out air and may be contaminated.

However, during the Ebola epidemic, a woman nursed her entire family through the illness using home-made protective equipment and did not get infected.

In Asia, cloth masks are popular because they are cheap and re-usable. But they don’t protect you. Cloth masks may even increase your risk of infection, especially if you don’t wash them regularly. They may absorb moisture and provide a breeding ground for bugs.

So, ideally, people shouldn’t be using them. However, people may resort to cloth if there is no other choice.

In a nutshell

While news of mask shortages might sound scary, if you are in a country with few isolated cases, you don’t need one anyway as the risk of infection is very low for the general public.

Panic buying or stockpiling also means there won’t be enough to go round should the situation worsen.

Even if you do use a face mask, they may protect against large droplets (ones you can feel on your skin when someone sneezes) and self-contamination from your hands, but not against smaller airborne particles.

Don’t forget, hand-washing is also very effective in preventing infection.

C Raina MacIntyre, Professor of Global Biosecurity, NHMRC Principal Research Fellow, Head, Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, UNSW and Abrar Ahmad Chughtai, Epidemiologist, UNSW

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Big gas shortage looming, but government stays hand on export controls

Josh Frydenberg, Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull at a press conference announcing the possibility of a serious gas shortfall.
AAP/Mick Tsikas

Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra

The government has issued another warning to gas producers but held off pulling its export control trigger, despite two new reports warning of potential severe local supply shortages.

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) have both pointed to looming shortfalls in the eastern Australian market in projections released on Monday.

AEMO said supply remained tight for 2018 and 2019, with a shortfall risk for 2018 of between 54 and 107 petajoules (PJs); for 2019 it was between 48 and 102 PJs. This was in the context of total expected demand for domestic gas of about 642 PJs in 2018 and 598 PJs the following year.

---

Read more: Our power grid is crying out for capacity, but should we open the gas valves?

---

The ACCC projected a shortfall in the east coast market of up to 55 PJs in 2018 which could be as much as 108 PJ if demand were above expectations.

The government earlier this year foreshadowed using export controls to force more local supply but so far is holding back from implementing them – despite calls from the opposition to do so. It hopes the threat will be enough.

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Malcolm Turnbull told a news conference, held with Treasurer Scott Morrison and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg, that the reports showed the shortages in the east coast domestic market would be considerably greater than estimated six months ago. The 110 PJs estimate was more than three times an earlier estimate, he said.

Turnbull said that following the announcement about export controls more gas had come into the local system from the exporters “but it has clearly not been sufficient to date”.

“The recent rises in the cost of gas are the single biggest factor in the current rise in electricity prices,” he said.

“More expensive gas has huge implications for industry and for struggling families but it feeds directly into the electricity market.”

He condemned the “comprehensive failure” by state governments to develop their own gas resources. Queensland was “an honourable exception” but NSW and Victoria needed to act, as did the Northern Territory. He would be contacting the premiers and the NT chief minister to urge they do so.

---

Read more: Memo to COAG: Australia is already awash with gas

---

He said the government had already had discussions with the executives of the big gas exporting companies and “we’ll be speaking with them again this week”. Turnbull spoke by phone on Monday with Origin Energy, Santos and Shell.

“We expect them to demonstrate to us what they have already indicated in meetings and in writing – that they will ensure that there is not a shortage of gas next year on the east coast.

“If they are able to do that, and to the satisfaction of the ACCC, then the foreshadowed export control mechanism will have done its work.

“But we will continue to hold that mechanism ready to go … so that if we are not able to receive the assurances from the industry to our satisfaction and that of the ACCC, then we will impose those export controls.”

Turnbull said the government’s commitment was “to ensure there is not a shortfall in the domestic market in 2018”.

Bill Shorten tweeted: “Turnbull just admitted a huge gas shortfall. As I’ve been saying: it’s time to pull the trigger on export controls. Why does he refuse?”

https://www.podbean.com/media/player/4vmna-742f96?from=site&skin=1&share=1&fonts=Helvetica&auto=0&download=0

Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Water Shortage

Christian Forced to Sell Kidney to Pay Debt to Boss in Pakistan

Employer charges non-Muslims at least 400 percent interest.

LAHORE, Pakistan, May 14 (CDN) — A low-wage Pakistani Christian said his Muslim employer last week forced him to sell his kidney in an effort to pay off a loan his boss made at exorbitant interest rates charged only to non-Muslims.

John Gill, a molding machine operator at Shah Plastic Manufacturers in the Youhanabad area of Lahore, said he took a loan of 150,000 rupees (US$1,766) – at 400 percent interest – from employer Ghulam Mustafa in 2007 in order to send his 17-year-old daughter to college. 

“I kept paying the installments every month from my salary, but after three years I got tired of paying the huge interest on the loan,” Gill told Compass.

The employer denied that he had received payment installments from his Christian worker, although Gill said he had receipts for monthly payments.

Mustafa confirmed that he took over Gill’s home last week after giving the Christian two weeks to pay off the outstanding interest on the loan. Then, on May 6, Mustafa came to Gill’s home with “about five armed men” and transported him to Ganga Ram hospital, where they forced him to sell his kidney against his will, the Christian said.

“They sold my kidney and said that they will come next month for the rest of the money,” Gill said.

The value of the kidney was estimated at around 200,000 rupees (US$2,380), leaving Gill with outstanding debt of about 250,000 rupees (US$2,976), he said. Recovering at home, Gill said he did not know he would repay the rest of the debt.

Mustafa told Compass that Gill owed him 400 percent interest on the loan.

“I only offer 50 percent interest to Muslim employees,” he said, adding that he refused to take less than 400 percent interest from any non-Muslim.

‘Kidney Bazaar’

There was no immediate confirmation from Ganga Ram hospital. Rights groups, however, have complained that hundreds of rich foreigners come to Pakistan every year to buy kidneys from live, impoverished donors.

Kidney failure is increasingly common in rich countries, often because of obesity or hypertension, but a growing shortage of transplant organs has fueled a black market that exploits needy donors such as Gill and risks undermining voluntary donation schemes, according to Pakistan’s Kidney Foundation.

Pakistani legislation aimed at curbing trafficking in human kidneys has not ended a business that has turned the country into the world’s “kidney bazaar,” critics say.

Gill said he is trying to contact local Christian advocacy groups to help him recover and overcome his financial and spiritual difficulties. Christians are a minority in heavily Islamic Pakistan, where rights groups have lamented discrimination against Christian workers.

Report from Compass Direct News 

Church Buildings Attacked in Malaysia Following Court Decision

Muslim groups angered by ruling to allow Catholic newspaper to use word ‘Allah.’

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, January 11 (CDN) — In unprecedented acts that stunned Christians in Malaysia, suspected Islamists have attacked eight church buildings since the country’s High Court ruled that a Catholic weekly could use the word “Allah.”

Firebombs were thrown into the compounds of four churches in Kuala Lumpur and neighboring Petaling Jaya on Friday (Jan. 8); three more attacks occurred on Sunday (Jan. 10) in Taiping, Melaka and Miri; and another church building was hit today in Seremban. There were no reports of injuries.

Judge Lau Bee Lan delivered the controversial court ruling on Dec. 31, arguing that the Herald had a constitutional right to use the word “Allah” for God in the Malay section of its multi-lingual newspaper. The ruling caused an uproar among many Muslim groups widely reported to have called for nationwide protests after Friday prayers, asserting that “Allah” can be used only in the context of Islam. Among groups calling for protests were the Muslim Youth Movement and the National Association of Muslim Students.

Inflammatory rhetoric has emerged in the escalating conflict; at a protest in Shah Alam since protests began on Friday, a speaker at one rally urged listeners to “burn churches,” according to the online news site Malaysian Insider. The crowd reportedly stood in stunned silence.

Malaysia’s Home Ministry filed an appeal against the High Court decision on Jan. 4. Two days later, the court allowed a freeze on the decision to permit the Herald to use the word “Allah” pending hearing in the Court of Appeal.

The attacked churches were Metro Tabernacle (Assembly of God) in Kuala Lumpur, and three churches in Petaling Jaya: Life Chapel (Brethren), Assumption Church (Catholic) and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (Lutheran); also damaged were All Saints’ Church (Anglican) in Taiping, Melaka Baptist Church in Melaka (vandalized but not firebombed), Good Shepherd Church (Catholic) in Miri (pelted with stones) and Sidang Injil Borneo (Evangelical Church of Borneo) in Seremban.

Though there were no casualties, a number of the church buildings were damaged in the attacks. Metro Tabernacle suffered the worst damage, with the ground floor of its three-story building, which housed its administrative office, completely gutted. The main door of the church in Seremban was charred.

The Rev. Ong Sek Leang, senior pastor of Metro Tabernacle, reportedly said that the church harbors no ill feelings toward the culprits and would forgive those responsible, but that it does not condone the acts.

Most of the other church buildings suffered minor damage, though the Assumption Church was spared when the Molotov cocktail thrown into its compound failed to go off. The Melaka Baptist Church building was splashed with black paint, while stones were thrown into the Good Shepherd Church building in Miri.

The Malaysian Insider reported on Friday (Jan. 8) that two other churches received telephone threats from unknown sources.

Christian leaders, government and opposition leaders, and Non-Governmental Organizations have condemned the attacks. Police have promised to increase security around church buildings, but Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan told the Malaysian Insider that churches must beef up their own security since there is a shortage of police personnel.

Malaysia’s population is about 60 percent Muslim, 19 percent Buddhist and 9 percent Christian. About 6 percent are Hindu, with 2.6 percent of the population adhering to Confucianism, Taoism and other traditional Chinese religions.

Shocked

The spate of church attacks shocked the Christian community and nation, as acts of violence on places of worship are unprecedented in Malaysia.

Ramon Navaratnam, Chairman of the Centre of Public Policy Studies, said in a press statement on Friday (Jan. 8) that the attacks marked a “troubling trend” and “a low point in our nation’s history.”

The same day, Malaysian Bar Council Chairman Ragunath Kesavan said in a press statement that the attacks were “shocking and offensive” and that “all right-minded Malaysians must condemn it as indecent and unacceptable.”

Christian leaders strongly denounced the attacks and have asked the government to safeguard the community and its places of worship. They have also called on the government to take firm steps against the perpetrators while paving the way for greater understanding between the different religious communities.

The Rev. Dr. Hermen Shastri, general secretary of the Council of Churches Malaysia, called on the government to “show zero tolerance for the use, threat or incitement, of violence as a means to pressure the decision of the court.” The Rev. Eu Hong Seng, chairman of the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship, called on the government “to take the necessary steps to educate those who lack understanding and are ‘easily confused’ to be mature-minded in a progressive democratic society.”

Leaders on both sides of the political divide have also denounced the attacks, while a number of opposition leaders – including Anwar Ibrahim, adviser to the People’s Justice Party – put the blame on the United Malay National Organization (UMNO), the leading partner in the ruling coalition government. Anwar reportedly accused UMNO-owned newspaper Utusan Malaysia of having incited Muslims over the court decision.

A number of local commentators have also criticized Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein for not defusing rising tensions in the initial days of the court ruling. They have also come under fire for saying they would allow public demonstrations by Muslim groups to proceed, and that they would take action “only if things got out of hand.”

Despite the attacks, a check with parishioners of several churches in the Klang Valley showed Christians were undeterred by the acts of violence and continued to gather for worship yesterday.

Urging Christians to pray, Sam Ang, secretary-general of the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship, told Compass, “We see this as an opportunity to trust in the Lord and to revitalize our faith, especially for second-generation Christians.”

Report from Compass Direct News 

ISRAEL: NON-ARAB CHRISTIANS SEEK IN VAIN FOR BURIAL SITES

Orthodox denominations face discrimination from authorities, nominally Christian gatekeepers.

HAIFA, Israel, July 8 (Compass Direct News) – Here in Israel’s third-largest city, it was not possible for the Russian Orthodox relatives of a 65-year-old woman who died on June 27 to find a Christian cemetery for her.

Their plight – for five days the body of Nadejda Edelman was stored at a hospital morgue – is common to Christians of foreign ancestry throughout the country. When Edelman passed away in Rambam Medical Center in this northern Israeli city, it took almost a week to find a grave for her and arrange for a funeral. Haifa, with 265,000 people, is 90 kilometers (56 miles) north of Tel Aviv.

On July 1 Edelman, a devout Christian, was buried outside of Haifa in Emeq Hefer Local Council Cemetery – a “secular” site for persons of no faith tradition. Had there been a Christian cemetery available, Edelman’s family might still have had problems obtaining a plot; the immigrant had not been able to have her ID registered as “Christian,” only as “Russian.”

“A cross on her neck and a testimony on her behalf by her close friend, as Edelman was childless, didn’t convince the authorities, and even if it would have, there are just no existing solutions for the deceased Russian Orthodox Christians of Russian origin in Israel,” said one of the founders of Sophia, an association of Russian Orthodox Christians in northern Israel. He requested anonymity.

Throughout Israel it’s not unusual for delays of days or weeks for burial of the Christian deceased of foreign ancestry. One Christian, Sergei Loper, was not buried until 20 days after his death; for another, Yuri Neverdasov, an available grave was not found for five days.

Christians make up 2.1 percent of Israel’s population, and the Orthodox denominations are a fraction of that. The issue of funeral rites and burials in Israel is especially difficult for these minorities, given the country’s complicated ethnic and religious makeup and laws that give religious institutions control over personal matters such as weddings, births and deaths.

The faith communities of Jews and Arabs in Israel each have their own designated burial societies that are responsible for arranging burials as well as religious rituals. Jewish burial societies called Hevra Kadisha are responsible for the Jewish deceased, while Arab burial societies provide services for Arab Muslims and Christians.

Such societies must obtain a special permit from the Ministry of Religious Affairs and sign a contract with the Social Security Service; this latter agency then covers the cost of burial fees in accordance with Israeli law. In theory every family in Israel is entitled to this reimbursement, but Russian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox families miss out because the funds go to the Arab burial societies rather than directly to the survivors.

Problems in addressing foreigners’ needs began in the early 1990s with a massive wave of immigration from the Former Soviet Union. Along with Jewish relatives, many Christians, Muslims and non-religious emigrants from Russia settled in Israel. Soon authorities were hard-pressed to address the needs of children of mixed marriages and of non-Jewish spouses and relatives – some with religious backgrounds other than Judaism, some holding no defined religious views and some who were atheists.

The question of foreign (especially Russian) Christians, as well as that of Jews who openly declared their conversion to Christianity, was especially disturbing, and Israel initially dealt with it by registering many people only as “Russians” without any reference to their religious belief. Later the religious designation for all people was eliminated from Israeli identification cards.

With legislation that was passed in 1992 but took more than a decade to implement, eventually authorities worked out a partial solution – establishing a few secular cemeteries and creating sections within Jewish cemeteries for “non-religious persons.” These measures did not meet the needs of people who wished to be buried in accordance with their religious beliefs, especially the Russian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox Christians.

Discrimination against Non-Arabs

The Sophia association has tried to address this complicated issue and assist members of the Russian Orthodox community and their families. Thus far authorities have little heeded their plea.

“It would be only natural if Christians would be buried in Christian cemeteries, yet the Arab local councils usually decline our requests,” said Dr. Ilya Litvin of Haifa, a member of Sophia.

In Israel’s Arab Christian cemeteries, the heads of local councils are the only ones entitled to make the decisions, but many of them are Christians by birth only; they belong to Communist parties and in reality have little sympathy for religious sentiment, advocates said.

“They claim that there is a severe shortage of graves there and little possibility for expansion, yet I believe that it’s just politics,” Litvin said. “They don’t really care about us – we are not Arabs.”

Oleg Usenkov, press-secretary of St. Nicolay’s church at Migdal ha-Emeq, added that a Christian burial may sometimes come only as a negotiated favor.

“Sometimes our priest, Father Roman Radwan, pulls personal connections and after some negotiations they allocate a grave for the deceased members of our community, but usually we hear a ‘No,’” he said.

Other options for the church are the non-Jewish section at the Jewish cemetery or the secular cemetery. It is usually not possible, however, to conduct Christian ceremonies at these sites.

Usenkov of St. Nicolay’s church said he vividly recalls a recent funeral of his friend Andrey Shelkov.

“The funeral was organized by the Jerusalemite Hevra Kadisha [Jewish burial society], and we were not even allowed to put a cross inside the coffin,” Usenkov said. “One of the Hevra Kadisha workers felt sorry for us and told me, ‘You can draw a Pisces [fish symbol] on his arm and put it inside the coffin, isn’t that a Christian symbol as well?’ Imagine that: having to draw a Pisces, just like the early Christians who had to hide their faith!”

Burials can be costly, and the Israeli Social Security Service covers burial fees only by transferring the compensation to the burial societies, not to the families of the deceased. Since there is no such burial society for Russian Orthodox Christians, state funds to cover the high costs go to local councils’ treasuries rather than to the families.

The leaders of Sophia have requested the office of Israel’s prime minister to give their association status similar to that of a Hevra Kadisha, which would allow Sophia to meet the burial needs of Russian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox Christians, but to no avail.

“In reply we received a formal letter which offers no solution,” said Litvin. “The letter suggested that we should somehow obtain a cemetery, and that then we were to apply to the Ministry of Religious Affairs for the license – which is practically impossible, and everyone knows it.”

A written inquiry by Compass to the social security office elicited the same response.

“We feel helpless and frustrated: the heads of Greek Orthodox Church choose not to interfere, or maybe they can’t, while the Israeli authorities are brushing us off,” Litvin said. “As a result, innocent people are denied of their basic right – to be buried according to their religious beliefs. Some of them are childless and poor, and there is no one to stand up for their rights. We hope that someone will take responsibility for this issue.”

Report from Compass Direct News 

CHINA: OFFICIALS REACH OUT TO HOUSE CHURCHES; RAIDS, ARRESTS CONTINUE

TSPM offers Bibles and “assistance,” but rights groups say efforts fall short.

DUBLIN, December 9 (Compass Direct News) – In recent months Chinese officials have attempted to build bridges with the Protestant house church movement even as police raided more unregistered congregations, arrested Christian leaders and forced at least 400 college students to swear they would stop attending such worship services.

With rights groups saying more effort is needed to address rights abuses and secure full religious freedom for Chinese Christians, two research institutes – one from the government – organized an unprecedented symposium on Nov. 21-22 that concluded with an agreement for house church leaders to begin a dialogue with government officials.

A delegation of six house church leaders from Beijing, Henan and Wenzhou provinces attended the seminar, entitled, “Christianity and Social Harmony: A Seminar on the Issue of Chinese House Churches,” along with scholars and experts from universities and independent research facilities. Members of the Minorities Development Research Institute, a branch of the China State Council’s Research and Development Centre, and the Beijing Pacific Solutions Social Science Research Institute co-hosted it.

In a report summarizing the forum, Beijing house church representative Liu Tong Su said that China’s religious institutions and regulations were clearly outdated and inadequate to meet the needs of the church.

At the conclusion of the meeting, house church delegates agreed to dialogue with the government, Liu said, though he insisted, “Only God can control the spirituality of faith. No worldly authorities have the right to control a man’s spirit.”

The government has been entrusted by God with the authority to maintain external public order, Liu added.

“If the government can limit its governing territory to areas of maintaining public order in external conduct, then according to the teachings of the Bible, the house church will definitely obey those in authority within the boundary that God has set,” he said.

Experts presented reports on the rapid development of house church networks, including the number of Christians, geographical distribution, cultural and ethnic make-up and connection with foreign Christians, according to the Gospel Herald.

A month earlier, the chairman of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) – responsible along with the China Christian Council (CCC) for overseeing China’s Protestant churches – told a gathering of 200 Hong Kong church leaders of his desire to assist Chinese house churches and provide them with Bibles, according to Ecumenical News International (ENI).

At the Oct. 22 conference entitled, “Chinese Church – New Leaders, New Challenges,” TSPM Chairman Fu Xianwei declared, “For those house churches without registration, we will try our best to be with them, to recognize them and to help them, so long as they have an orthodox faith, don’t stray from the truth and don’t follow heretics.”

Fu and 11 other members of the newly-elected leadership team of the CCC/TSPM also said they were willing to provide house churches with Bibles, ENI reported.

Bible distribution is largely the responsibility of Amity Press, China’s only official Bible printing company, which recently announced its intention to place more Bibles in the hands of rural Christians. Daniel Willis, CEO of the Bible Society in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, launched an appeal on Nov. 12 to support Amity in this goal.

Speaking at the launch, Willis asserted, “Smuggling Bibles into China places Chinese Christians at risk, and now with the new Amity Press operational in Nanjing, smuggling is a waste of resources.”

Amity opened a new multimillion dollar printing facility in May with a capacity to print 12 million Bibles per year. Most of those Bibles are printed in foreign languages for export outside China.

“China is experiencing a great freedom of worship,” Willis added. “With this wonderful change the church is spreading rapidly … Each Chinese Christian would like to experience the joy … that owning their own Bible brings – but unfortunately for many, obtaining a Bible is difficult and often out of their reach financially.”

The China Aid Association (CAA) issued a statement on Nov. 20 that Amity did not produce enough Bibles to meet the vast needs of the church in China or to replace lost or worn copies. It also pointed out that distribution was still strictly limited to government-approved channels.

Earlier this year, the Rev. Dr. Chow Lien-Hwa, vice-chairman of the board of Amity Press, stated in an interview with the NSW Bible Society that Amity was printing 3 million Bibles per year for mainland China. Chow also outlined a plan to allow Bible distribution through a chain of government bookshops and claimed that house church Christians could buy Bibles from TSPM churches without having to provide personal identity information.

Pastors from both house churches and official TSPM congregations have reported to Compass a shortage of Bibles and other Christian materials in Beijing, the northwest, the northeast, and the southwest. Church growth in tribal areas also has created an urgent need for Bibles in minority languages.

 

Raids, Arrests Continue

Rights groups pointed to recent raids and arrests, however, as confirmation that Chinese authorities still restrict freedom of worship for local house church Christians.

Police raided a house church gathering in Tai Kang county, Henan province on Dec. 3 and arrested all 50 Christians, CAA reported on Thursday (Dec. 4). Public Security Bureau officers also raided another gathering of 50 house church believers in Xiji town, Zaozhuang city, Shandong province on Dec. 2, arresting 20 Christian leaders and demanding a fine of 2,500 yuan (US$365) per person to secure their release.

CAA also confirmed that police carried out multiple raids on house church gatherings in Beijing and in areas near college campuses in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, from late September to early November, detaining leaders of the Local Church house church network. Four leaders in Zhejiang were sentenced to labor camp for 12 to 18 months.

Officers also arrested at least 400 Christian college students. After intense questioning, police forced each student to write a statement of repentance agreeing to forsake such gatherings.

Commenting on reports of persecution in China, Chow of Amity Press claimed victims were not true Chinese citizens, but Chinese with foreign citizenship who had entered China to carry out illegal activities.

“When we go to another country we must be law-abiding citizens of that country,” Chow insisted. “The law, whether you like it or not, says you can only preach in the churches, you cannot go on the street.”

Some house churches are actively seeking registration with authorities to avoid arrests and inconveniences, ENI reported in October. Such groups, however, prefer to register outside the CCC/TSPM structure, disagreeing that different Protestant beliefs can be reconciled under the TSPM as a self-described “post-denominational” umbrella organization.

House church members also object to the TSPM’s interference in congregational practices, according toe the U.S. State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report 2008. The report notes that many unregistered evangelical Protestant groups refuse to register with TSPM due to theological differences, fear of adverse consequences if they reveal names and addresses of church leaders or members, or fear that it will control sermon content.

 

Released from Prison

Responding to international pressure, officials on Dec. 2 released house church pastor Zhu Baoguo of Henan province, citing medical reasons. Authorities had raided a house church gathering on Oct. 12, arresting Zhu and four other leaders, before sentencing Zhu on Oct. 30 to one year in labor camp, CAA reported.

Officials also released house church pastor Wang Weiliang from prison on Nov. 25 for medical reasons, according to CAA. Authorities sentenced Wang to three years in prison in December 2006 for protesting the July 2006 destruction of Dangshanwan Christian church in Xiaoshan, Zhejiang province. Seven other believers were arrested at the time; authorities have released all but one, who remains in detention in Hangzhou.

 

A Breakthrough for China’s House Churches?

At last month’s symposium on Chinese house churches, officials from government research organs, scholars from government think-tanks and universities, independent researchers and an unprecedented delegation of six house church leaders from Beijing, Henan and Wenzhou attended.

At the groundbreaking conference, sponsored by the Minorities Development Research Institute of the China State Council’s Research and Development Center and the Beijing Pacific Solutions Social Science Research Institute and entitled, “Christianity and Social Harmony: A Seminar on the Issue of the Chinese House Churches,” participants discussed every aspect of the house church movement in China.

Statistics were a key issue, with most agreeing that the number of house church members was vast and rapidly increasing. Estimates ranged from 50 million to 100 million members of Protestant house churches, as compared with approximately 20 million members of registered Protestant churches.

Delegates were surprisingly bold in their discussion and criticism of China’s religious policy, and several put forward practical plans for the abolition of institutions such as the State Administration for Religious Affairs (formerly the Religious Affairs Bureau) and the Protestant Three-Self Patriotic Movement.

They also called for serious and ongoing discussions between the government and house churches, and Christian leaders called for the lifting of a ban on house churches and a review of restrictions on church registration and appointment of pastors.

Many participants agreed that the democratic management of house churches in accordance with the rule of law was a logical step to bring religious policies into line with China’s open-door economic policies.

While certain sectors of leadership may welcome these suggestions, others entrenched in the atheist system of the Communist Party were expected to balk at such reforms.  

Report from Compass Direct News