COVID-19 vaccination in Beijing, China, on 20 February 2021 (Photo: Xinhua/VNA)

The US remains the world epicenter with more than 30 million patients and 546,000 deaths. Brazil came second with nearly 11.5 million cases and over 277,000 deaths followed by India with 11 million infections and nearly 160,000 deaths, Russia with nearly 4.4 million cases, and the UK with 4.3 million cases.  

China is aiming to vaccinate 70 to 80% of its population by mid-2022, the country's Center for Disease Control said Saturday.

With four approved vaccines, China will vaccinate 900 million to 1 billion people in a hope to lead the world in achieving herd immunity.

Herd immunity occurs when enough of the population has immunity, either from vaccination or past infection, to stop the uncontrolled spread of an infectious disease like COVID-19.

China had administered 52.5 million vaccine doses through the end of February. China currently has 17 COVID-19 vaccine candidates for clinical trials. It has approved four domestically made vaccines: two from Sinopharm, one from Sinovac, and another from CanSino. None of the four vaccines have publicly released their final stage trial data.