One year later, US still seeing too many COVID-19 deaths: CDC director

The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday said that U.S. death numbers from COVID-19 remain too high as a number of states have begun relaxing restrictions and vaccination efforts have been ramped up.

Speaking on the “Today” show, Rochelle Walensky said that vaccinating people is the best chance the U.S. has of reducing the COVID-19 death rate quickly.

“What worries me is the steady flow at 50,000, 60,000 [new cases a day], and we continue to see that even today. What we do know is that we’re vaccinating people at 2 1/2 million people per day. And we’re really starting to see the positive effects of that vaccination,” she said.

“And what we really want to do is make sure that we can reach all the population that can get the vaccination so we can get that mortality rate down. Because we’re still seeing about a thousand deaths a day. Way too many,” Walensky continued.

“We’re still seeing 1,000 deaths a day, way too many.”

Watch @craigmelvin’s full interview @CDCDirector Rochelle Walensky on new back-to-school efforts, the COVID-19 vaccine timeline, and the overcrowding and safety conditions at U.S. Southern border facilities. pic.twitter.com/J3qrneJbWK

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) March 25, 2021

Her comments come as roughly 1 in every 6 American adults were fully vaccinated as of the end of last week, according to CDC figures.

Vaccine hesitancy remains an issue in the U.S.; a recent poll from The Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation found that only half of U.S. health care workers have received the vaccine despite being prioritized, with many choosing not to be vaccinated or having some reservations.