January marks deadliest month for COVID-19 in US

January has turned into the deadliest month for the United States since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the US hit its own record of monthly coronavirus fatalities with more than 79,000 deaths in January, shattering the previous record set in December by more than a thousand.

The data comes as the new US administration is accelerating the national vaccination programs, pushing for 100 million shots in the first 100 days of US President Joe Biden's presidency.

On Tuesday, Biden announced that his administration plans to boost the weekly supply of vaccines to states in the hope of vaccinating 300 million Americans by the end of the summer or early fall.

"We now have a national strategy to beat COVID-19. It's comprehensive. It's based on science, not politics. It's based on truth, not denial, and it is detailed," he said. "We will both increase the supply in the short term by more than 15% and give our state and local partners more certainty about when the deliveries will arrive."

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However, the experts and local officials seem to be pessimistic about Mr. Biden's plan, maintaining that the supply of vaccines does not meet the demand.

The director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Mississippi said on Wednesday that he was "very encouraged" by Biden's approach, but that the state is still struggling with the dearth of vaccines.

"We know that right now the number of individuals who want to be vaccinated greatly outstrips the supply of vaccine that we have available," Dr. Nirav Shah said.

The number of coronavirus cases is still rising in all the US states and on Wednesday crossed 25.5 million person.

The US coronavirus total death toll also topped 425,000 cased on Wednesday, nearly 20,000 more than the country’s fatalities in World War II.

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