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China has fully vaccinated more than 1 billion people against Covid-19 -- over 70% of its total population -- powering ahead of the U.S. and Europe despite having no immediate plans to ease some of the strictest pandemic measures in the world, The Bloomberg reported. 

A total of 2.16 billion doses have been given in China as of Sept. 15, Mi Feng, a spokesperson at the National Health Commission, told reporters in Beijing on Thursday, fully inoculating more than 1.01 billion people. 

China’s vaccine campaign ramped up this spring and summer to deliver over 20 million doses per day at its June peak after a slow start earlier in the year. Beijing deployed a mixture of carrots and sticks to encourage vaccinations, shying away from vaccine mandates but making life extremely difficult for the unvaccinated. For instance, it introduced measures that banned the unvaccinated from entering public places or participating in business meetings.

China releases a daily tally of the total vaccine doses it has administered, and, before Thursday, it had periodically released figures on how many people are fully vaccinated.