The former health minister said he had chosen not to comment when the prime minister originally made the claim because he had expected the health ministry’s vaccine procurement white paper to show that due process had been followed.
In February, Anwar claimed some parts of the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines did not follow procedure and were signed off by ministers without the agreement of the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC).
“I don’t blame the prime minister. I know he received inaccurate advice at that time,” Khairy said in a Keluar Sekejap podcast episode, following a debate in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
Putrajaya MP Radzi Jidin had yesterday raised the point that a motion tabled by deputy health minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni last Thursday stated that Covid-19 vaccine procurements had indeed been brought to the AGC’s attention.
“So, who’s going to apologise?” Radzi had asked.
Noting it was recently reported that eight million vaccine doses had expired and were left in warehouses, Khairy said this was because people did not want to take their booster shots and not because of any impropriety in procurement.
“I remember being asked by the prime minister in Cabinet if we had bought enough vaccines and I said we had enough to cover booster shots for adults.”
He said the strategy was to have at least 90% of the population with a booster dose but that many chose not to take the booster shots, adding that over time Malaysians managed to acquire enough immunity to exit the pandemic.
On the generational end game (GEG) policy, Khairy said the health ministry’s recent referral of the Control of Tobacco Products and Smoking Bill 2022 – part of the GEG policy – to a parliamentary select committee (PSC) was “a tactical move” to prevent it from being dropped.
The bill is going to the PSC yet again to take into account the comments of “all stakeholders”, after it was first tabled by Khairy last year.
Khairy said there were now calls for the bill, which is aimed at achieving a smoke-free generation, to be dropped altogether.
“There is a gap (in the law now). Without these laws, there will be no control over vape. While waiting for the bill to be passed, vape cannot be controlled.
“That is why those against GEG will say, why don’t you pass the bill first without vape controls. The health community is worried that if this is to be carried out, GEG will be forgotten forever,” he said.
Health groups have urged the government to ensure controls are in place to prevent the marketing and sale of products containing nicotine, especially to children.
This is after the government decided in March to remove liquid or gel nicotine, an active content in some vape liquids, from the Poisons Act 1952.
The proposed bill seeks to ban the use, purchase and sale of cigarettes and vape products to those born after 2007.