With its annual production capacity close to five billion Chinese COVID-19 vaccine doses now, China can produce three billion COVID-19 vaccine doses this year, a National Health Commission (NHC) official said Tuesday at a parallel session of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2021.

Zheng Zhongwei, director of NHC's Medical Science and Technology R&D Center said at the conference being held in south China's Hainan Province that after the outbreak of the coronavirus, the Chinese government immediately set up a task force to coordinate the research of COVID-19 vaccines. At the time, 12 vaccines out of 10 scientific research institutions across the country were selected, which cover almost all major technological routes around the world.

"Though fast, the standards of vaccine review and approval in China are by no means lower than those in the U.S. and EU," Zheng said.

China has promised to promote Chinese COVID-19 vaccine as a global public good, which is available and affordable to people in other countries, so the country in the next half of the year will supply more vaccines to the world through bilateral and multilateral mechanisms, he added.