KUALA LUMPUR, June 23 — The European Union (EU) is not stockpiling Covid-19 vaccines as claimed by minister Khairy Jamaluddin, its ambassador to Malaysia, Michalis Rokas said today.

He said that the EU Secretariat has approved all vaccine requests from the Malaysian government without a problem so far, Kosmo Online reported.

"For your information, all requests from the Malaysian government regarding the distribution of vaccines to the country have been approved by the EU Secretariat without any problems,” he was quoted as saying in a press conference after the launch of the EU-South-east Asia Health Pandemic Response and Preparedness Programme in Malaysia.

Rokas was responding to an assertion made yesterday by Khairy who is the coordinating minister for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.

Yesterday, Khairy revealed that there are several European countries that monopolise distribution resulting in vaccination rates in the country being low.

The European cartel is believed to be negotiating directly with vaccine suppliers to enable the purchase of vaccines to be made in bulk, adding that the manufacturing plants are also located on the continent.