Biden takes 2nd dose of COVID-19 vaccine

US President-elect Joe Biden on Monday got his second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by American pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.

In a live event, Biden received the second vaccination in his home state of Delaware, where his campaign transition headquarters is located.

"I'm doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared when it's available to take the vaccine. There's nothing to worry about. I'm looking forward to the second shot and so is [my wife] Jill. She's had her shot earlier today," he said before taking the vaccine.

Biden's second vaccination comes three weeks after he received the first dose on Dec. 21.

Although the US has distributed 8 million doses since Dec. 14, with 4 million coming in the last week, this total falls far short of the goal set by the outgoing Trump administration, which had aimed to distribute 20 million doses by the end of 2020.

One of the Biden administration goals is to distribute 100 million doses during his first 100 days in office.

While nearly 8.99 million people in the US have received the first dose, there were some 25.5 million doses distributed as of Monday 9.00 a.m. Washington, D.C. time (1400 GMT), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data showed.

A survey in the US, however, showed that only half of the population wants to receive the vaccine, while a quarter of adults were not sure whether they want to get vaccinated.

The US still leads the world with over 22.4 million cases and more than 374,000 deaths, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University.