BEIJING -- Nearly 1.24 billion people across the Chinese mainland had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Friday, a Chinese health official said Saturday.

Mi Feng, spokesperson for the National Health Commission (NHC), released the data at a press conference, adding that close to 3.22 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered on the mainland.

Lei Zhenglong, another NHC official, said that 649.16 million people had received a booster jab as of Friday. More than 80 percent of people aged 60 and above had taken at least two doses of the vaccine.

Studies show that a booster jab is effective in preventing death or severe conditions, Lei noted, advising elderly people who have not been vaccinated and those who meet the conditions for booster immunization to get inoculated as soon as possible.

Cautioning against relaxing precautions in the face of the still raging pandemic, Mi Feng called for earlier, faster and stricter implementation of the current measures for COVID-19 prevention and control.

China's population stood at around 1.41 billion people at the end of 2021, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.