China’s Covid-19 vaccination drive hits one billion mark
- Milestone follows significant increase in number of jabs delivered in recent weeks, with the country accounting for over a third of the global total
- More than 20 million doses have been delivered on some days, but medical experts warn that significant challenges remain
The National Health Commission announced on Sunday that the country passed the symbolically important landmark the previous day.
The sheer volume is unmatched globally, with China accounting for more than one of every three doses administered so far worldwide, according to Bloomberg.
Total global vaccinations topped 2.5 billion last week, according to the agency, at a rate of 37 million a day as of Friday. China’s average daily doses this month come in at over 18 million, with the highest single day total recorded on Friday when over 23 million doses were administered.
01:06
China’s Covid-19 vaccination drive hits 1 billion mark
“It is really an impressive scale – the roll-out and [production] scale behind it are equally impressive,” said Zoltán Kis, a research associate at the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Hub at Imperial College London’s Centre for Process Systems Engineering.