China has administered 9 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to key groups of its population so far, according to the country's National Health Commission (NHC), CNN News reported.

Since December 15, 7.5 million people around the country have received a dose, the NHC said at a press conference on Saturday. Prior to that, 1.6 million doses had been administered to high-risk populations.

The approved vaccine is developed and manufactured by state-owned pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm. The company said its vaccine is 79.34% effective, citing interim analysis of Phase 3 clinical trials.

The vaccine requires two doses per person.

Aside from the approved Sinopharm vaccine, China has four vaccine candidates which have reached Phase 3 trials.