China pushes ahead with aggressive vaccination effort after slow start

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China has fully mobilized its COVID-19 vaccination efforts after overcoming a series of hurdles, with 100 million shots administered in five days last month. 

As of Wednesday, China administered more than 700 million doses, with half of those doses given in May alone. The number represents about a third of shots distributed globally. 

China received emergency approval from the World Health Organization (WHO) for its Sinopharm vaccine on May 7 - making it just one of six vaccines at the organization's disposal - but health officials had previously admitted that the vaccines developed by China were not highly effective. 

A security guard watches residents wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus line up to receive the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in the Central Business District in Beijing, Wednesday, June 2, 2021. After a slow start, China is now doing what virtually no other country in the world can: harnessing the power and all-encompassing reach of its one-party system and a maturing domestic vaccine industry to administer shots at a staggering pace.  (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

"It's now under formal consideration whether we should use different vaccines from different technical lines for the immunization process," China Centers for Disease Control director Gao Fu said at a conference in April.

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Initial reports claimed that the Sinopharm vaccine had a 79% efficacy, but foreign trials of another Chinese vaccine, the Sinovac vaccine, found efficacy would be as low as a 50% rate. 

Security guards help masked residents to scan their health code as they line up to receive the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in the Central Business District in Beijing, Wednesday, June 2, 2021. After a slow start, China is now doing what virtually no other country in the world can: harnessing the power and all-encompassing reach of its one-party system and a maturing domestic vaccine industry to administer shots at a staggering pace. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

WHO data based on trials from Saudi Arabia, who received doses of the Sinopharm vaccine, appears to support the initial 79% efficacy claim, allowing China to hit the aggressive level of vaccination it has displayed in recent weeks. 

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In early May, China was administering around 7 million doses daily; that number more than doubled by last week, with over 15 million doses administered daily in the final week of May.

Residents line up outside a vaccination center in Beijing on Wednesday, June 2, 2021. After a slow start, China is now doing what virtually no other country in the world can: harnessing the power and all-encompassing reach of its one-party system and a maturing domestic vaccine industry to administer shots at a staggering pace. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Current estimates put the number at around 19 million shots per day, according to Our World in Data’s rolling seven-day average.

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"The Communist Party has people all the way down to every village, every neighborhood," said Ray Yip, former country director for the Gates Foundation in China and a public health expert. "That’s the draconian part of the system, but it also gives very powerful mobilization."

Security guards help masked residents to scan their health code as they line up to receive the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in the Central Business District in Beijing, Wednesday, June 2, 2021. After a slow start, China is now doing what virtually no other country in the world can: harnessing the power and all-encompassing reach of its one-party system and a maturing domestic vaccine industry to administer shots at a staggering pace. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Around 87% of the population in Beijing, the capital, have received at least the first shot of a vaccine. The government even mobilized vaccination buses to high foot-traffic areas, including the city center and malls. 

Some local media reports, however, indicate difficulty acquiring vaccine doses in more distant areas. 

Central government officials on Monday said they’re working to ensure supply is more evenly distributed. Although there are distribution issues, it is unlikely that Chinese manufacturers will have problems with scale, according to analysts and those who have worked in the industry.

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"What place in the world can compare with China on construction? How long did it take our temporary hospitals to be built?" asked Li Mengyuan, who leads pharmaceutical research at Western Securities, a financial firm.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.