China to produce more than 3 bln COVID-19 vaccines this year: official

Photo taken on Dec. 23, 2020 shows the packing line for inactivated COVID-19 vaccine of Sinovac Biotech, a Chinese biopharmaceutical company, in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei)

China is expected to produce more than 3 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses this year, an official said Tuesday.

The country's current production capacity is around 5 billion vaccine doses annually, said Zheng Zhongwei, head of the working group for vaccine development under the State Council joint prevention and control mechanism against COVID-19.

Speaking at a sub-forum of the Boao Forum for Asia annual conference, Zheng said that, when the outbreak happened, China immediately focused on research and development for a COVID-19 vaccine.

The country chose to conduct research work on 12 types of vaccines from 10 research units across the country, Zheng said.

China will supply more vaccines globally in the latter half of 2021, he added.