Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said Thursday that COVID-19 has claimed the lives of 10 family members.
“It is painful for me to know that nearly every death we see now from COVID-19 could have been prevented,” Murthy said at a White House press briefing. “I say that as someone who has lost 10 family members to COVID-19 and wishes each and every day that they had had the opportunity to get vaccinated.”
SURGEON GENERAL CALLS ON TECH PLATFORMS TO COUNTER COVID-19 MISINFORMATION
Murthy said during his confirmation testimony in February that he has lost family members to the pandemic. At the time, it included seven members of his family, two who died in the United States and five who died in India.
India experienced a massive COVID-19 wave beginning in April due to the more infectious delta variant. At its peak in May, India was experiencing over 400,000 new cases a day. Thus far, India has seen over 31 million cases of the disease and at least 412,000 deaths.
Murthy mentioned his family tragedy as he discussed a new advisory from his office about the dangers of health misinformation, especially misinformation on COVID-19.
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The advisory calls on institutions to combat health misinformation, including Big Tech platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
