China slammed the U.S. for hoarding and idling hundreds of millions of vaccines as the world grapples with a short supply and restricting the export of raw materials, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Friday. 

Hua made the remarks in response to a question about the U.S. State Department spokesperson accusing some countries of using life-saving medical aid to advance their own narrow political agendas.

The U.S. has about four percent of the world's population, but has snapped up about 2.6 billion doses of vaccines, a quarter of the global total, said Hua. 

China hopes that the U.S. can give up political manipulation of vaccines and make more concrete contributions to help and support the international anti-epidemic cooperation, Hua added.