SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
The estimated global death toll from the Covid-19 pandemic surpassed 6 million people on Monday, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. (Photo: Screenshot/Johns Hopkins)
Two Full Years and 6 Million Dead: Covid-19 Pandemic Latest Grim Milestone
While "less than 7% of people in low-income countries are fully vaccinated," Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said the U.S. must "invest more in global vaccination efforts immediately."
Mar 07, 2022
A full two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, a grim milestone was reached Monday as the global death toll surpassed 6 million people--a figure much higher, say many experts, than it would be otherwise if vaccinations had been made more widely available worldwide and not refused by so many who did have access.
As of this writing on Monday, the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center estimates that 6,001,094 people have died from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, otherwise known as Covid-19.
The Associated Press reports:
Death rates worldwide are still highest among people unvaccinated against the virus, said Tikki Pang, a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore's medical school and co-chair of the Asia Pacific Immunization Coalition.
"This is a disease of the unvaccinated--look what is happening in Hong Kong right now, the health system is being overwhelmed," said Pang, the former director of research policy and cooperation with the World Health Organization. "The large majority of the deaths and the severe cases are in the unvaccinated, vulnerable segment of the population."
It took the world seven months to record its first million deaths from the virus after the pandemic began in early 2020. Four months later another million people had died, and 1 million have died every three months since, until the death toll hit 5 million at the end of October. Now it has reached 6 million--more than the populations of Berlin and Brussels combined, or the entire state of Maryland.
While Johns Hopkins is among the institutions tracking verifiable infections, deaths, hospitalizations, and other metrics, most experts agree that the real death toll during the pandemic is much higher than 6 million.
Last week, Oxfam International said in a new report that it believes over 19 million deaths can be attributed to the pandemic, including excess deaths over the last two years from other causes that would not have occurred if not for the existence of the pandemic and the stresses it placed on public health systems, individuals, and communities.
In November of last year, a team at The Economist estimated that the real number of excess deaths during the pandemic was somewhere between 14.1 million and 23.8 million people.
Responding to Monday's new milestone, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said that while the "real number is certainly greater" than 6 million, "less than 7% of people in low-income countries are fully vaccinated," and she said the U.S. must "invest more in global vaccination efforts immediately."
That was the same message that Oxfam sent last week, as it characterized the pandemic as one fueled by the greed of pharmaceutical giants who have refused to share their vaccine recipes and technology with the developing world even as the virus ravaged the globe.
"After two years, we all want this pandemic to be over, but politicians in rich countries are exploiting that fatigue to ignore the devastating impact of Covid-19 that continues to this day," said Anna Marriott, Oxfam's Health Policy Manager.
"While incredibly effective vaccines provided hope, rich countries derailed the global vaccine rollout with nationalism, greed, and self-interest," she added. "Suggestions that we are entering a 'post-Covid era' ignore the continuing deaths in primarily lower-income countries that could be prevented by vaccines."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
A full two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, a grim milestone was reached Monday as the global death toll surpassed 6 million people--a figure much higher, say many experts, than it would be otherwise if vaccinations had been made more widely available worldwide and not refused by so many who did have access.
As of this writing on Monday, the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center estimates that 6,001,094 people have died from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, otherwise known as Covid-19.
The Associated Press reports:
Death rates worldwide are still highest among people unvaccinated against the virus, said Tikki Pang, a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore's medical school and co-chair of the Asia Pacific Immunization Coalition.
"This is a disease of the unvaccinated--look what is happening in Hong Kong right now, the health system is being overwhelmed," said Pang, the former director of research policy and cooperation with the World Health Organization. "The large majority of the deaths and the severe cases are in the unvaccinated, vulnerable segment of the population."
It took the world seven months to record its first million deaths from the virus after the pandemic began in early 2020. Four months later another million people had died, and 1 million have died every three months since, until the death toll hit 5 million at the end of October. Now it has reached 6 million--more than the populations of Berlin and Brussels combined, or the entire state of Maryland.
While Johns Hopkins is among the institutions tracking verifiable infections, deaths, hospitalizations, and other metrics, most experts agree that the real death toll during the pandemic is much higher than 6 million.
Last week, Oxfam International said in a new report that it believes over 19 million deaths can be attributed to the pandemic, including excess deaths over the last two years from other causes that would not have occurred if not for the existence of the pandemic and the stresses it placed on public health systems, individuals, and communities.
In November of last year, a team at The Economist estimated that the real number of excess deaths during the pandemic was somewhere between 14.1 million and 23.8 million people.
Responding to Monday's new milestone, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said that while the "real number is certainly greater" than 6 million, "less than 7% of people in low-income countries are fully vaccinated," and she said the U.S. must "invest more in global vaccination efforts immediately."
That was the same message that Oxfam sent last week, as it characterized the pandemic as one fueled by the greed of pharmaceutical giants who have refused to share their vaccine recipes and technology with the developing world even as the virus ravaged the globe.
"After two years, we all want this pandemic to be over, but politicians in rich countries are exploiting that fatigue to ignore the devastating impact of Covid-19 that continues to this day," said Anna Marriott, Oxfam's Health Policy Manager.
"While incredibly effective vaccines provided hope, rich countries derailed the global vaccine rollout with nationalism, greed, and self-interest," she added. "Suggestions that we are entering a 'post-Covid era' ignore the continuing deaths in primarily lower-income countries that could be prevented by vaccines."
A full two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, a grim milestone was reached Monday as the global death toll surpassed 6 million people--a figure much higher, say many experts, than it would be otherwise if vaccinations had been made more widely available worldwide and not refused by so many who did have access.
As of this writing on Monday, the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center estimates that 6,001,094 people have died from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, otherwise known as Covid-19.
The Associated Press reports:
Death rates worldwide are still highest among people unvaccinated against the virus, said Tikki Pang, a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore's medical school and co-chair of the Asia Pacific Immunization Coalition.
"This is a disease of the unvaccinated--look what is happening in Hong Kong right now, the health system is being overwhelmed," said Pang, the former director of research policy and cooperation with the World Health Organization. "The large majority of the deaths and the severe cases are in the unvaccinated, vulnerable segment of the population."
It took the world seven months to record its first million deaths from the virus after the pandemic began in early 2020. Four months later another million people had died, and 1 million have died every three months since, until the death toll hit 5 million at the end of October. Now it has reached 6 million--more than the populations of Berlin and Brussels combined, or the entire state of Maryland.
While Johns Hopkins is among the institutions tracking verifiable infections, deaths, hospitalizations, and other metrics, most experts agree that the real death toll during the pandemic is much higher than 6 million.
Last week, Oxfam International said in a new report that it believes over 19 million deaths can be attributed to the pandemic, including excess deaths over the last two years from other causes that would not have occurred if not for the existence of the pandemic and the stresses it placed on public health systems, individuals, and communities.
In November of last year, a team at The Economist estimated that the real number of excess deaths during the pandemic was somewhere between 14.1 million and 23.8 million people.
Responding to Monday's new milestone, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said that while the "real number is certainly greater" than 6 million, "less than 7% of people in low-income countries are fully vaccinated," and she said the U.S. must "invest more in global vaccination efforts immediately."
That was the same message that Oxfam sent last week, as it characterized the pandemic as one fueled by the greed of pharmaceutical giants who have refused to share their vaccine recipes and technology with the developing world even as the virus ravaged the globe.
"After two years, we all want this pandemic to be over, but politicians in rich countries are exploiting that fatigue to ignore the devastating impact of Covid-19 that continues to this day," said Anna Marriott, Oxfam's Health Policy Manager.
"While incredibly effective vaccines provided hope, rich countries derailed the global vaccine rollout with nationalism, greed, and self-interest," she added. "Suggestions that we are entering a 'post-Covid era' ignore the continuing deaths in primarily lower-income countries that could be prevented by vaccines."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.