"This team will help get at least 100 million COVID-19 vaccines shots in the first 100 days," Biden told reporters in Wilmington, Delaware.

The former vice president said the outbreak in the United States may get worse before it gets better.

Biden said additional funding from Congress will be needed early next year to fund the rest of the distribution efforts for the vaccine and to prevent the United States' response from stalling.

The US public will need to be persuaded to take the vaccine because many have become cynical about its usefulness, Biden said.

Biden also said he wants to have US schools open by the end of the first 100 days of his presidency, depending on whether Congress passes a new COVID-19 relief bill.

The US administration is expected to approve two vaccine candidates in the coming days to administer tens of millions of doses in December with hundreds of millions more in subsequent months. The plan is to vaccinate almost all US citizens by the end of the second quarter of 2021.