China continues to promote vaccination among elderly

BEIJING -- A Chinese health official on Tuesday pledged continuous efforts to promote vaccination among the elderly.

Approximately 220.2 million elderly people aged 60 or above, or 83.41 percent of the country's senior citizens, have been fully vaccinated as of Monday, said Lei Zhenglong, an official from the National Health Commission, at a press conference.

Among that number, over 172.5 million have received a booster shot, Lei added.

Lei noted that by Monday, a total of over 3.4 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered on the Chinese mainland, with approximately 1.26 billion people, or 89.41 percent of the total population, fully vaccinated.

Of that number, a total of over 790 million people have received a booster shot, Lei said.