Minister of Science Technology and Innovation Khairy Jamaluddin speaks to the media at the Covid-19 vaccination centre in Bukit Jalil June 21, 2021. — Picture by Ahmad Zamzahuri
KUALA LUMPUR, June 23 — Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin urged the World Bank today to speak out against global Covid-19 vaccine inequity amid mounting concerns that hoarding among richer economies would widen existing economic divides.
Khairy spoke off the cuff at the launch of the World Bank Malaysia’s Economic Monitor report this morning to tell the global institution that it bore some responsibility to ensure poorer and developing countries had equal access to Covid-19 vaccines.
Khairy also said the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (Covax) programme, set up to ensure the people in poorer countries were not left behind in efforts to inoculate them against the coronavirus, has been “an abysmal failure.”
MORE TO COME