SEPANG: Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has lambasted rich countries for vaccine hoarding, describing the act as "cruel and unjust" against poor and less developed countries.
He drew resemblance between the act and a scene from the Titanic where the ship was sinking and the rich people in the first class had the priority boarding the lifeboats.
"Poor countries, less developed countries, are left to drown. That is what happening today," khairy said at the launch of Malaysia Aviation Group's (MAG) sustainability blueprint here today.
"Not prioritised, wait in line, wait for your turn while rich countries have bought enough to inoculate their citizens three, four, five times over. If this is not injustice, I do not know what is," he added.
Khairy said the government was trying its best to make sure the country got the vaccination programme done, not just for public health, but also crucially for economic recovery.
Amnesty International, in its annual report, recently condemned rich world's "near-monopoly" on Covid-19 vaccines.
It was reported that the richest countries had effected a near-monopoly of the world's supply of vaccines, leaving countries with the fewest resources to face the worst health and human rights outcomes.
Malaysia is currently sourcing Covid-19 vaccines from several producers namely China, Europe, United States and Russia to innoculate over 80 per cent of its population with a total estimated cost of US$504.4 million.