China hits milestone of 200M vaccine shots administered

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) – China said on Wednesday it has administered 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country, including jabs for a large majority of its medical personnel.

According to the National Health Commission (NHC), recipients of the 200 million doses administered include around 80% of all medical personnel, public broadcaster CGTN reported.

The figure means China, which started a mass immunization drive this January and has also covered non-Chinese citizens in its campaign, is second after the US in terms of total shots administered.

The vaccination rate in the country has climbed to 12.2%, placing it eighth in the world, according to state-run daily Global Times.

China is only using vaccines developed by local companies Sinovac, Sinopharm, and CanSino, with no jab manufactured abroad approved for use in the country.

Fosun Pharma, a leading Chinese healthcare group, has also sent its COVID-19 vaccine to China’s state regulator for market review.

The mRNA jab, which was submitted this past Sunday, has been developed in collaboration with German firm BioNTech.

- New cases in China

A separate NHC statement said two new indigenous cases have been recorded in the country, along with 19 imported infections.

The two local cases were detected in the southwestern Yunnan province.

China’s overall tally since December 2019 now stands at 90,541, including 4,636 deaths.