During implementation? Typically not. Should you not start implementing git just because it’s based on SHA-1? As I wrote, I don’t believe that the usage of SHA-1 in the context of XEP-0115 is an issue at the time of writing this. Of course, when designing a replacement for XEP-0115, then you want to use a newer cryptograhically secure hash algorithm. Unsurprisingly, this is what was done when XEP-0390 (not that XEP-00115 hadn’t already hash agility, but it has other flaws, as stated in the XEP).
Yes, in most contexts it is possible to avoid the usage of SHA-1. Sometimes by using the provided hash agility properties of the context, sometimes by simply disabling the use case of the context, or replacing it with a newer approach.