BOAO, Hainan -- China is expected to produce more than 3 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses this year, an official said on April 20.

The country's current production capacity is around 5 billion vaccine doses annually, said Zheng Zhongwei, head of the working group for vaccine development under the State Council joint prevention and control mechanism against COVID-19.

Speaking at a sub-forum of the Boao Forum for Asia annual conference, Zheng said that, when the outbreak happened, China immediately focused on research and development for a COVID-19 vaccine.

The country chose to conduct research work on 12 types of vaccines from 10 research units across the country, Zheng said.

China will supply more vaccines globally in the latter half of 2021, he added.