BEIJING — More than 24 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in China, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Jan 31.

Preliminary tests showed that the incidence of severe abnormal reactions caused by the COVID-19 vaccines currently used in China is no higher than that of the influenza vaccine, Xu Wenbo, head of the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention under the center, said at a press conference held by the State Council joint prevention and control mechanism against COVID-19.

Last month, an inactivated vaccine developed by Beijing Biological Products Institute under the China National Biotec Group, affiliated with Sinopharm, became the first to receive conditional market approval from the National Medical Products Administration.