Number of COVID-19 deaths in the United States as of September 13, 2021, by state

As of September 13, 2021, there have been 659,975 deaths related to COVID-19 in the United States. There have been 67,100 deaths in the state of California, more than any other state in the country – California is also the state with the highest number of COVID-19 cases.

The vaccine rollout in the U.S. has started

Since the start of the pandemic, the world has eagerly awaited the arrival of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. In the United States, the immunization campaign started in mid-December 2020 following the approval of a vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. As of September 13, 2021, the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the U.S. had reached over 380 million. Ensuring that production supply meets demand is the next obstacle that developers will have to overcome.

Vaccines achieved due to work of research groups

Chinese authorities initially shared the genetic sequence to the novel coronavirus in January 2020, allowing research groups to start studying how it invades human cells. The surface of the virus is covered with spike proteins, which enable it to bind to human cells. Once attached, the virus can enter the cells and start to make people ill. These spikes were of particular interest to vaccine manufacturers because they hold the key to preventing viral entry.