It would appear that the COVID-19 has killed as many people as the flu did in the 1900's. And they had no vaccine.
From the article:
COVID-19 has killed around as many Americans as the 1918-19 flu
COVID-19 has now killed about as many Americans as the 1918-19 Spanish
flu pandemic did — approximately 675,000.
The U.S. population a century ago was just one-third of what it is today, meaning the flu cut a much bigger, more lethal swath through the country. But the COVID-19 crisis is by any measure a colossal tragedy in its own right, especially given the incredible advances in
scientific knowledge since then and the failure to take maximum advantage of the
vaccines available this time.
"Big pockets of American society — and, worse, their leaders — have thrown this away,"
medical historian Dr. Howard Markel of the University of Michigan said of the opportunity to vaccinate everyone eligible by now.
Like the Spanish flu, the coronavirus may never entirely disappear from our midst. Instead, scientists hope it becomes a
mild seasonal bug as human immunity strengthens through vaccination and repeated infection. That could take time.