The death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States hit 900,000 on Friday, as the Biden administration fails to abide by its promise to contain the pandemic.

Only a month and a half ago, the death toll had reached 800,000 people.

Although new cases linked to the Omicron variant are decreasing, daily deaths continue to rise, with an average of 2,400 now, according to government figures.

Friday’s milestone comes more than 13 months into a vaccination campaign marred by misinformation and political and legal dispute.

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Dr. Ashish K. Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, said: “it is an astronomically high number. If you had told most Americans two years ago as this pandemic was getting going that 900,000 Americans would die over the next few years, I think most people would not have believed it.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 64% of the population, or approximately 212 million Americans, is fully vaccinated.

Since mid-January, when the cases peaked at more than 800,000, the number of new cases per day has dropped by nearly 500,000. 

Deaths continue to be at an all-time high, with more than 2,400 people dying every day on average, the highest rate since last winter. They are also on the rise in at least 35 states, owing to the time lag between when victims become infected and when they die.

The United States has the highest reported toll of any country, but the true number of lives lost directly or indirectly to the coronavirus is thought to be significantly higher.

The death toll was around 300,000 when the vaccine was rolled out in mid-December 2020. It reached 600,000 by mid-June 2021, and 700,000 by Oct. 1. It reached 800,000 on December 14th.

Jha and other health experts are frustrated that US policymakers failed to give away COVID-19 shots. Meanwhile, the pandemic has become one of the top three causes of death in the US, behind heart disease and cancer.

Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, a public health professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said “we have underestimated our enemy here, and we have under-prepared to protect ourselves.” 

“We have been fighting among ourselves about tools that actually do save lives. Just the sheer amount of politics and misinformation around vaccines, which are remarkably effective and safe, is staggering,” Sharfstein said.

He concluded: “This is the consequence.”