China ranks the world's largest vaccine producer with an annual output of more than one billion doses, said the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) on Tuesday.

The annual output of vaccines against hepatitis B, poliomyelitis, measles, whooping cough, diphtheria and tetanus can vaccinate 500 million people alone, the SFDA said in a press release.

Thirty-three Chinese vaccine manufacturers produce 49 kinds of vaccines against 26 diseases, the SFDA said.

The Chinese health authority recently announced that it was working to vaccinate people against 15 serious diseases, up from seven.

"If this is completed, China's national immunization projects will cover the most serious diseases in the world," Chinese Health Minister Chen Zhu said last week.

(Xinhua News Agency September 11, 2007)