More than 260 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines made by China have been shipped globally, putting the country at the top of global distribution.
The National Health Commission on Monday said 100 million of these international doses consist of two vaccines developed by China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm). One of the vaccines is the two-dose "BBIBP-CorV" developed in cooperation with the Beijing Institute of Biological Products and the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products.
Some 80 million shots of both vaccines have been administered, mostly to citizens of developing countries. Sinopharm expects to produce one billion doses of BBIBP-CorV this year.
China's NHC said another 160 million doses of the "CoronaVac" vaccine from Sinovac Biotech have been supplied to 18 countries and regions with over 70 million people being inoculated.
There was no information provided on the number of doses supplied worldwide by CanSino Biologics and the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology of the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, which have developed their own vaccine.
Government health experts said China's vaccination campaign has been slower than many other countries, including the U.S.
A much slower domestic vaccination pace is partly due to China's decision to provide 10 times more doses to foreign countries compared to domestic doses to support its "vaccine diplomacy" aimed at boosting its standing among developing countries.
The decision to prioritize foreign supplies over domestic supplies means China had administered 100 million vaccine doses domestically as of March 27. The week before, NHC said China had administered 70 million vaccinations as of March 20.
This represents an increase of only five million vaccinations since NHC revealed a national total of 65 million vaccinations on March 15, or only one million vaccinations per day.
In contrast, the United States had administered 146 million domestic doses as of Sunday. It vaccinated an average of 2.76 million persons daily last week.
Worldwide, more than 559 million doses have been administered across 141 countries, according to data collected by Bloomberg. Some 14.5 million doses are being administered daily.
China's vaccine diplomacy, however, seems to be winning more friends for the country. Hungary became the first country in the European Union to give emergency approval to a second Chinese COVID-19 vaccine. CanSino announced its vaccine had been authorized for emergency use in Hungary.
The first batch of CoronaVac vaccines consisting of 200,000 doses arrived in Ukraine last week. Ukrainian health authorities said the shipment embodies the friendship between both countries.
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa paid tribute to China for donating vaccines to his country. He received his first shot of CoronaVac last week.
