The U.S. Covid death toll has passed 800,000, making it the highest in the world.
The grim milestone was once unimaginable and is seen as an even worse tragedy given that more than 200,000 deaths came following the availability of vaccinations.
The figure comes as the World Health Organization issued a warning that the latest variant, Omicron, is spreading at an unprecedented rate.
Omicron has a large number of mutations and is posing a new threat as it slowly gains speed in the United States. Experts are not yet sure how dangerous the new strain is. It has been detected now in 77 countries since it was first reported to WHO on Nov. 24 by South Africa.
The 800,000 death milestone comes as both cases and hospitalizations are increasing again in the United States. The Delta variant has driven the spike, which is a highly contagious variant. It has mostly infected those who are unvaccinated.
The Omicron variant is causing a fourth wave of Covid infections around the world. Vaccine experts and scientists have said that the variant appears to have a significant ability to evade vaccinations, with data released this week suggesting that the standard two-dose Pfizer shot is about 33 percent effective at preventing infection from Omicron.
Preliminary data shows that the standard two-dose vaccination regimen, while not necessarily preventing the majority of infections, has been approximately 70 percent effective at preventing hospitalizations over the past three weeks, even despite the newest strain.
New data however is showing that a booster shot, or a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine, is highly effective at preventing Omicron infections. This makes it approximately equally as potent as the two-shot vaccines were with the previously most transmittable strain, Delta.
Currently, 200 million Americans have a full vaccination dosage, making it about 60 percent of the population. This falls short of what scientists say is the necessary percentage to keep the virus at a low rate.
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