The president of Sinovac Biotech Ltd. said on Thursday that the company now has the capability of producing 2 billion COVID-19 vaccines a year.

"We have built production facilities with an annual production capacity of 2 billion doses. At this time, over 200 million doses of our COVID-19 vaccine have been delivered to different countries to support vaccine rollout, and millions of people around the globe have been administered our vaccine," said Yin Weidong, chairman, president, and CEO of Sinovac, a leading provider of biopharmaceutical products in China.

He continued, "We always strive to achieve low incident rates when developing vaccines, and we are happy to see CoronaVac's strong performance in the largest real-world study in Chile, providing solid, real-life evidence that our vaccine helps to reduce hospitalized cases, ICU admissions, and fatal cases. Our overarching goal is to deliver a safe, effective, and accessible vaccine to the world."

The company on Thursday has filed its 2020 annual report on Form 20-F with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for last year. It also reported its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter, which ended on Dec. 31, 2020.

The data shows the sales for the fourth quarter of 2020 were $327.5 million, an increase from $81.1 million in the previous year. Sales in 2020 were $510.6 million, an increase from $246.1 million in the prior year. Sinovac posted $104.4 million of net income attributable to common shareholders in 2020, compared to net income attributable to common shareholders of $39.8 million in the prior year.

"Sinovac experienced an exceptionally strong year in 2020," Yin said. "Despite the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, we are pleased with our record financial performance both for the fourth quarter and the full fiscal year. We moved quickly to develop an inactivated COVID-19 vaccine, also known as CoronaVac, within a year's time without having to sacrifice product quality."

The company initiated the development of an inactivated vaccine against COVID-19 named CoronaVac on Jan. 28, 2020, and has started phase three trials in various countries. As of March 31, 2021, CoronaVac had been granted either emergency approval or conditional marketing authorization by over 30 countries and regions. Yin previously mentioned at the Boao Forum for Asia held in Hainan province on April 20 that Sinovac has provided more than 260 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines so far.