"It's a tragedy, an absolute tragedy, and sadly, hundreds of thousands of these lives could've been saved if we'd been able to get more people vaccinated," said Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthv.
More than 750,000 people in the U.S. have now died from COVID, according to Johns Hopkins University — a reminder that the nation is still in the grips of the coronavirus pandemic. Hundreds of thousands of deaths in just a year and a half.
The U.S. has the most cases — 46-million — and deaths of any nation around the world.
According to the CDC, 58% of the total U.S. population is fully vaccinated, and 78% of people over the age of 12 are fully vaccinated.
