What’s new: China had administered more than 1 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines as of Saturday, according to the National Health Commission (NHC).
The country gave out about 2.2 million vaccine doses on Saturday, bringing the total number to 1.01 billion, data (link in Chinese) from the NHC shows. Some 100 million shots were administered in the past five days.
However, Yang Zhanqiu, professor of the Medical Virology Research Institute at Wuhan University, was quoted by state-owned newspaper Global Times as saying that the number does not give the 1.4 billion-strong nation herd immunity just yet.
Herd immunity will only be reached when 2 billion doses have been administered nationwide or 1 billion people are fully vaccinated, Yang said, as this means 700 million people will have gained immunity against Covid-19.
The background: China is speeding up its vaccination drive as it aims to vaccinate 40% of its population, or 560 million people, by the end of June, Caixin has previously reported.
Beijing has been leading the government’s vaccination drive with more than 80% of its adult residents already fully vaccinated, Bloomberg reported.
Contact reporter Wang Xintong (xintongwang@caixin.com) and editor Heather Mowbray (heathermowbray@caixin.com)
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