Vaccines said key to reopen intl borders

Quick rollout needs to continue to reach 70% inoculation rate for herd immunity

Mass vaccination is the only way for China to build herd immunity against the novel coronavirus and fully reopen to the world, a renowned health expert said.

The National Health Commission said that China had administered nearly 140 million doses as of Sunday, up by about 3.3 million from Saturday. The number of fully vaccinated people in China is still far from the estimated threshold for herd immunity of at least 70 percent.

By comparison, some major economies have outpaced the rest of the world in vaccinating their population, said Zhang Wenhong, head of the infectious disease center at Fudan University's Huashan Hospital in Shanghai.