With surges in the number of people inoculated in recent few weeks in China, the country "is catching up with the developed world" in COVID-19 vaccination rate, media have reported.

While emerging markets "are lagging" in the vaccination campaign, the developed world is "on track to vaccinate 92 percent of its population this year," Reuters cited data from a global vaccination tracker of Swiss bank UBS in a report on May 14.

If China sustains recent daily rate, "it will inoculate 87 percent of the population by year-end," the report cited UBS analysts as saying.

A total of 406.938 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered across the Chinese mainland as China steps up the inoculation drive, according to the country's National Health Commission on May 17.