Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has lashed out at global vaccine inequity and countries which hoard Covid-19 vaccines, amidst criticism that Malaysia’s vaccination programme rollout is slow compared to other countries.

He was responding to an Utusan Malaysia comment piece today that had compared the vaccination programme rollout in Malaysia and in Hungary.

“I like that Utusan Malaysia used the example of Hungary. Are you aware Hungary is part of the European Union (EU)? And that the EU had negotiated with the vaccine manufacturers as a block with the purchasing power of the EU?

“And among the vaccine manufacturers, some of them are based in Europe, so they have been hoarding vaccines from the start."

Hungary, he stressed, is part of the European Union which had already cornered the vaccine market from the start.