A total of 21 COVID-19 vaccines have entered clinical trials in China, a National Health Commission (NHC) official said Sunday.

So far, four COVID-19 vaccines have been granted conditional marketing approval and three have been authorized for emergency use within the country, according to Zeng Yixin, deputy head of the NHC.

Eight COVID-19 vaccines have been approved for phase III clinical trial overseas, and one messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccine has met the ethical requirements for a phase III clinical trial overseas, Zeng said.  

At least 70 percent of the target population in China is expected to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of this year, the official added. 

Over 763 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered across China as of Saturday, according to NHC statistics.