Residents receive COVID-19 vaccine shots at a vaccination site in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu province, March 31, 2022. (Photo: IC)

China has spent more than 120 billion yuan ($18.9 billion) on COVID-19 vaccination, an expenditure within the limits of the country's medical insurance funds, said the National Healthcare Security Administration.

So far, 3.2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered on the Chinese mainland, according to the administration.

China launched free programs to vaccinate its population against COVID-19 in February 2021. The cost of vaccine procurement and inoculation is mostly covered by the country's medical insurance funds and government budget.