99.5% killed by Covid in last 6 months in US were unvaccinated: CDC Director

99.5 percent of those who have died from Covid-19 in the last six months in the United States were unvaccinated, said CDC Director Dr Rochelle Walensky.

Walensky at a White House briefing on Thursday, said preliminary data reviewed by her organisation led to this information, reports The Forbes.

The preliminary results were based on data collected from January, one month after the start of vaccination in the United States.

However, she highlighted this as evidence of vaccination efficacy, claiming that vaccines have eliminated practically all virus-related mortality.

The CDC head contrasted the good signs of vaccination efficacy with the threat of the more virulent delta variant, which currently accounts for around 25% of new infections.

Walensky voiced special concern about 1,000 counties (mostly in the South, East, and Midwest) with vaccination rates of 30 percent.

These communities are "our most vulnerable," Walensky added, stressing that the CDC has already noticed "increased disease rates" in some locations as a result of the mutant delta strain's expansion.

"Any suffering or death from Covid-19 tragic," Walensky said. "With vaccines available across the country, the suffering and loss we are now seeing is entirely avoidable." 

According to a recent Associated Press (AP) analysis, 99.2 percent of the more than 18,000 Covid- related deaths documented in May in the US were among the unvaccinated, with only 150 dying from "breakthrough" illnesses (in fully vaccinated people). 

The CDC figure released on Thursday, however, takes a far broader look at the link between vacciness and Covid-19 deaths.