Over 1.16 billion Chinese people, or 82.5 percent of the country's total population, have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Dec 10, said an official of the National Health Commission (NHC) at a press briefing on Dec 11.

Wu Liangyou, deputy head of the disease control and prevention division of the NHC, stressed that vaccination is still the effective way to control the pandemic. He added that the NHC will continue to push the vaccination drive in China.

China will need to inoculate 83 percent of its population to achieve herd immunity theoretically, the country's top epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan said on the same day in Guangzhou, adding he's confident that the target will be reached by the end of this year.