China's Jiangsu to vaccinate 56 mln people against COVID-19 this year

East China's Jiangsu Province has launched a mass vaccination campaign against COVID-19 aiming to vaccinate 56 million people by the end of this year.

Vaccinations will be carried out on a voluntary basis and the vaccination record of every inoculator will be registered through an electronic code, according to the provincial health authority.

Currently, 133 out of some 150 grass-roots medical institutions in the provincial capital of Nanjing provide vaccination services to the public.

"Some of the vaccination sites have extended the service hours to 10 pm to make it convenient for people to get the jab after work," said Wang Zhencheng, a health official in Nanjing.

The province's Wuxi city has dispatched vaccination vehicles and medical staff to residential communities and factories to facilitate the mass vaccination work.

More than 85.85 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered across China as of Wednesday. The country aims to speed up its universal, free-of-charge immunization program, expanding its coverage from people at higher risk for COVID-19 to the general public.