The number of U.S. COVID-19 deaths in 2021 has surpassed the 2020 death toll, according to data provided by the federal government and Johns Hopkins University.
Some 385,343 Americans were reported to have died of COVID in 2020. The total death toll now exceeds 770,800.
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About 59 percent of the U.S. population has been vaccinated. According to a study co-authored by epidemiologist Ana Bento, higher vaccination rates could have saved 140,000 lives between the beginning of January 2021 and the end of May, but Bento also told the Wall Street Journal that the vaccine is "not a panacea."
Public health authorities continue to urge unvaccinated Americans to take the vaccine and to encourage those who have been vaccinated to get booster shots.
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