Beijing: Days after India categorically stated that the country had been given more doses of vaccines against the coronavirus disease than all G7 countries, China has now claimed that it has given more than one billion people against Covid-19. Fully vaccinated.
According to official figures on Thursday, China has claimed to have vaccinated 71 percent of its population.
“As of September 15, 2.16 billion vaccine doses have been administered nationwide,” Mi Feng, spokesman for China’s National Health Commission, said at a press briefing.
Health officials in China, where the virus was first detected, said last month that 890 million people in the country had been fully vaccinated and given two billion doses.
Top virologist Zhong Nanshan said last month that China is likely to vaccinate 80 percent of its population by the end of the year. However, the Chinese government has yet to publicly announce the target of vaccination coverage.
So far, China is battling an outbreak of the delta variant in the southeastern province of Fujian, which has infected about 200 people, including school children.
This comes after China declared the Delta variant under control.
Earlier in July, China launched its vaccine campaign to include minors aged 12-17. However, most young children remain unvaccinated, raising fears that the latest outbreak in Fujian could disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in China.
Sharing data earlier this month, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government said that in August India had administered more than 180 million vaccine doses, while G7 states administered only 101 million doses.
“Yet another achievement! With over 180 million vaccine doses delivered in the month of August, India sets its mark on the global map of vaccinating its population on a priority basis. #LargestVaccineDrive,” the official MyGovIndia Twitter handle said. Sharing the data said.
.