President Biden leveled an extraordinary charge against Facebook and other social media platforms on Friday, claiming they are "killing people" by allowing coronavirus misinformation to spread. The accusation comes as health officials are voicing concern over rising cases of the virus and stalling vaccination rates. 

"They're killing people. I mean it, really. Look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated and they're killing people," Mr. Biden told reporters, echoing comments made by CDC Director Rochelle Walensky earlier on Friday. During a briefing by the White House coronavirus response team, Walensky reported 36% increase in hospitalizations and 26% increase in deaths due to COVID-19 in the past week.

"We are seeing outbreaks of cases in parts of the country that have low vaccination coverage because unvaccinated people are at risk, and communities that are fully-vaccinated are generally faring well," Walensky said. "Our biggest concern is that we are going to continue to see preventable cases, hospitalizations, and sadly, deaths, among the unvaccinated."