The Latest: China says 1 billion vaccine doses administered

BEIJING — China has announced that more than 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been administered in the country.

The National Health Commission did not say Sunday how many people had been vaccinated. As elsewhere, most of the vaccines in China are given in two doses.

The pace of vaccinations has accelerated in the country of 1.4 billion people after a slow start. The total number of doses given doubled from 500 million in less than a month, according to government tallies.

China has approved seven domestically developed vaccines and recently approved two of them for children as young as three years old. Regulators haven’t approved any non-Chinese vaccines so far, although they appear to be moving toward doing so for the one developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.

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MORE ON THE PANDEMIC:

— US sending Taiwan 2.5 million vaccine doses, tripling pledge

— Uganda Olympic team member tests positive for coronavirus

— As Brazil tops 500,000 deaths, protests against president

— Afghanistan races to ramp up oxygen supplies as infections soar

— US families angered that coronavirus restrictions still keep them from loved ones in nursing homes even as elderly vaccinations are widespread

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Follow more of AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine

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