WILMINGTON (Delaware) • US President-elect Joe Biden has said he would publicly take a coronavirus vaccine to demonstrate its safety to the public and pledged to retain the nation's top adviser on the pandemic, Dr Anthony Fauci, when he takes office next month.

"People have lost faith in the ability of the vaccine to work," Mr Biden told CNN in an interview that aired on Thursday.

In the interview alongside Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris, Mr Biden called for Congress to pass the US$908 billion (S$1.2 trillion) Bill proposed by moderates in the United States Senate, but said it should be viewed as a start to providing relief during the pandemic.

"People are really hurting," he said. "They're scared to death."

The US posted an all-time high of more than 210,000 new cases in a 24-hour stretch to Thursday evening, while notching up more than 2,900 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Hospitalisations have exceeded 100,000 patients.

As at yesterday evening, the coronavirus has claimed a total of more than 276,383 lives in the US and over 14 million people have been infected, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Pfizer's vaccine has already been approved by the regulatory authorities in Britain, while the US Food and Drug Administration plans to decide whether to do so on an emergency basis after an advisory panel meeting next Thursday. Vaccines could be distributed in the US almost immediately afterwards.

Dr Fauci was critical, however, of the approval process in Britain.

"They kind of ran around the corner of the marathon and joined it in the last mile," he told CBS News. "They really rushed through that approval."

He later apologised, however, for his critique, telling the BBC that he meant "no judgment" of the British process.

In the CNN interview, Mr Biden said that as president, he will order that masks be worn in federal buildings and transportation hubs. He said he will ask Americans to wear masks for the first 100 days of his administration.

Mr Biden's remarks on taking a vaccine came after three former presidents - Mr Bill Clinton, Mr George W. Bush and Mr Barack Obama - said they would publicly get the coronavirus vaccine as a way to demonstrate its safety.

In an interview with SiriusXM radio, Mr Obama said: "If Anthony Fauci tells me this vaccine is safe, and can vaccinate, you know, immunise you from getting Covid, absolutely, I'm going to take it.

"I promise you that when it's been made for people who are less at risk, I will be taking it."

He added: "I may end up taking it on TV or having it filmed, just so that people know that I trust this science, and what I don't trust is getting Covid."

Mr Bush's chief of staff Freddy Ford told CNN the former president also wanted to help promote vaccination. "First, the vaccines need to be deemed safe and administered to the priority populations," Mr Ford told CNN. "Then, president Bush will get in line for his, and will gladly do so on camera."

Mr Clinton's press secretary also told CNN that the former president would be up for getting a vaccine in public on television.

Mr Biden lauded the three former presidents for their commitment, saying they had "set the model as to what should be done".

Vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are expected to be approved by the US authorities shortly. A top science official said on Wednesday that the US hopes to have immunised 100 million people by the end of February.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE