JAKARTA - United States (US) President Joe Biden celebrated the country's 245th anniversary on Sunday, July 4, by opening the gates of the White House, inviting the US public to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, ending the pandemic once and for all.
"This year, Fourth of July is a day of special celebration as we emerge from darkness, a year of pandemic and isolation, a year of pain, fear and heartbreaking loss," President Biden said.
The celebration was held on the south lawn of the White House, with about 1,000 guests, including military families and workers involved in tackling COVID-19.
"We never again want to be where we were a year ago today," he added.
The biggest White House event since President Biden took office in January was filled with fireworks and hamburgers, inviting to celebrate signs that normalcy has returned after the coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 600,000 Americans.
However, the United States failed to achieve President Biden's goal of getting 70 percent of U.S. adults to get at least one shot of the vaccine by Sunday.
As of yesterday, only about 67 percent of US adults had received at least 1 dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, with some in the community resisting, raising concern among health officials, as the more aggressive Delta variant threatens to produce another spike.
President Biden mourned those who died, lauded Americans for helping in the country's emergency response and said vaccines were the best defense against new variants of the virus.
"This is the most patriotic thing you can do," he said of vaccination.
But his government also wants to celebrate what it sees as an achievement, restoring some normalcy to a country weary of the restrictions and hardships of the pandemic, a burden that has been eased but not lost by the widespread availability of vaccinations.
The pandemic forced the cancellation of almost all celebrations last year, including causing the presidential inauguration in January to be held traditionally under health protocol restrictions.
Fort-like security around Washington after the January 6 attacks on Capitol Hill, Washington DC was relaxed, as crowds celebrated the Declaration of Independence from Britain in 1776.
The fence around the White House has been reduced dramatically, and the streets filled Sunday with people snapping photos of the president's motorcade returning from weekend trips to Michigan cherry plantations, golf courses, and family homes in Delaware.
Speaking to people on the south lawn of the White House who had taken off their masks to eat watermelon slices and drink beer, President Biden said the coronavirus was no longer crippling the nation of America, and it was in the power of the United States to ensure it never happened again.
After the speech, the president greeted the guests and posed for photos in front of the 17-minute fireworks display that started on either side of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
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