US President-elect Joe Biden has vowed to publicly take a coronavirus vaccine to demonstrate its safety to the public and pledged to retain the nation's top adviser on the pandemic, Anthony Fauci, when he takes office next month.
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"People have lost faith in the ability of the vaccine to work," Biden told CNN in an interview that aired on Thursday.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of President Donald Trump's coronavirus task force, met with Biden's advisers on the pandemic earlier in the day.
In the interview, Biden said he asked Fauci to stay on as a chief medical adviser.
In the interview alongside Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, Biden called for Congress to pass the $US908 billion bill proposed by moderates in the US Senate, but said that it should be viewed as a "start" to providing relief during the pandemic.
US deaths from the pandemic have surged past 2000 for two days in a row as the most dangerous season of the year approaches. Nearly 200,000 new US cases were reported on Wednesday.
In the CNN interview, Biden said that as president, he would order masks to be worn in federal buildings and transportation hubs. He said he would ask Americans to wear masks for the first 100 days of his administration.
Biden's remarks on taking a vaccine after three former presidents - Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Barack Obama - said they would publicly get the coronavirus vaccine as a way to demonstrate its safety.
Australian Associated Press