Biden administration officials hail falling national COVID death rate

Roxbury Community College art majors Corey Jones and Ayo Oyadiji created a mural recognizing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on their community, and the efforts toward vaccine equity.Lane Turner/Globe Staff

With vaccines protecting more and more Americans, the national coronavirus death rate has fallen to the lowest point since April 2020, Biden administration officials said Thursday.

Ronald Klain, Biden’s chief of staff, said deaths were down more than 80 percent after “114 days of unmatched pace in distributing and administering vaccinations.”

“Deaths down to the lowest level since the early days of this pandemic,” he said in a tweet.

His tweet included a tweet from White House COVID-19 data director Dr. Cyrus Shahpar, who said that the seven-day average of reported deaths was at the lowest point since April 1, 2020.

Shahpar said the number was “Still too many but progress. Vaccines work.”

Deaths down over 80% after 114 days of unmatched pace in distributing and administering vaccinations.

Deaths down to the lowest level since the early days of this pandemic. https://t.co/Nbjq0b0Es5

— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) May 13, 2021

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on its website that as of Wednesday afternoon 154 million Americans, or 46.4 percent, had received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccines, and 117.7 million, or 35.4 percent, were fully vaccinated.

The coronavirus death rate in Massachusetts, a national leader in vaccinations, has also dropped to lows not seen since the early days of the pandemic. The seven-day average of deaths in the state was 7 on Wednesday. On Tuesday, hopes were raised even further by a startling single-day total of zero.

Governor Charlie Baker said at a Wednesday media briefing that the low seven-day average numbers were “evidence of the power and the importance of these vaccines.”

“A huge part of that is the success that those vaccines have had in protecting people over the age of 65 and folks with comorbidities for whom COVID was most dangerous. That’s real-life experience right here in the Commonwealth, and yet again another example of why it’s so important for people to get vaccinated. Because this stuff works” he said.