People take COVID-19 vaccines at the temporary vaccination site at Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station in east China's Shanghai, May 29, 2021. Photo: Xinhua

The Chinese mainland has administered 904.13 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine as of Monday, amid accelerated efforts to advance the nationwide inoculation campaign, China's Health Commission announced Tuesday.

The vaccination pace has been accelerating in the mainland since the first 100 million doses were given by March 27. Statistics from China's health authorities show that it took China only five days to get from 600 to 700 million doses from May 28 to June 2. 

China now ranks first in the total number of vaccination doses administered, with 904.13 million doses given nationwide, followed by the US (310.65 million doses) and India (252.76 million doses), statistics from Our World in Data show. 

According to Our World in Data, as of June 3, about 1.9 billion doses of vaccine had been distributed globally with about a third coming from China, the Associated Press reported.

Zhang Wenhong, a leading infectious disease expert said that vaccination is the right way to prevent and control the epidemic. "The characteristics of COVID-19 tell us that it is a resident virus and we will have to fight a 'constant battle' against it in the future," he told the media previously.

Zhang called on Chinese people to get vaccinated as soon as possible, pointing out that inoculation can indirectly protect the unvaccinated.

Experts and observers believe that China is expected to establish an immunity barrier against COVID-19 by the end of this year or early next year as domestic vaccine production capacity and the public health system's vaccination capacity have been greatly improved. Citizens are also increasingly motivated to get vaccinated.

China's top respiratory disease specialist Zhong Nanshan predicted that the vaccine coverage rate in China will reach 40 percent by early July, and 80 percent by the end of this year, Zhong also urged Chinese vaccine developers to further expand their production capacity. 

Global Times