US President-elect Joe Biden is expected to receive a coronavirus vaccination as soon as next week.

Mr Biden has said he would get the injection in a public setting to instil confidence in its safety.

The 78-year-old is in a high risk category for coronavirus because of his age.

Vice-President Mike Pence will be vaccinated for COVID-19 on Friday (local time) in a public event, the White House said on Wednesday.

The White House said that by having the jab in public, Mr Pence hoped to “promote the safety and efficacy of the vaccine and build confidence among the American people”.

He will be the highest ranking person yet to publicly receive a coronavirus vaccine as distribution begins across the US.

A fortnight ago, former US presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton also volunteered to have their virus jabs on public television.

Polls indicate many Americans are sceptical about the vaccine.

Last week, a survey from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research found about a quarter of US adults weren’t sure if they wanted to get vaccinated.

Roughly another quarter said they would not.

Many who were on the fence had safety concerns and wanted to watch how the initial rollout fared.

Outgoing President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for the COVID vaccine’s development, despite flouting much health advice during the pandemic.

In late November, he said of Mr Biden: “Don’t let him take credit for the vaccines because the vaccines were me and I pushed people harder than they’ve ever been pushed before.

Mr Trump said the US was “rounding the curve” in its fight against the virus.

“The vaccines are being delivered. It will start next week and the week after. It will hit the frontline workers, seniors, doctors and nurses. We are going very quickly,” he said.

Despite that, the virus continues to surge across the US, with more than 2500 people dying every day. Earlier this week, American deaths from the pandemic topped 300,000.

California recently became the first state to record more than 30,000 new infections in 24 hours. It has continued to hit that daily benchmark for the past week.

-with agencies