US President Joe Biden urged his compatriots in a speech on the national holiday to have the corona vaccination in order to “achieve independence from the coronavirus together”. The vaccination is a “patriotic act,” said Biden on Monday night in the garden of the White House. “So please: If you haven’t been vaccinated yet, do it. Do it now – for yourself, for your loved ones, your community, your country.”
Thanks to the vaccination campaign, the US is “closer than ever to declaring its independence from the deadly virus,” stressed Biden. The virus has not yet been defeated, and there are also new dangerous variants. “But the best defense against these variants is to get vaccinated,” said Biden. Thanks to the vaccinations, the virus no longer controls people’s lives, “it no longer paralyzes our country”.
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Biden celebrated the holiday with a large barbecue in the garden of the White House for around 1,000 invited guests. These included many soldiers, health workers and their families.
Independence Day was of particular importance this year because Biden wanted to have achieved a new vaccination goal by then. By July 4th, 70 percent of all adults should have received at least one dose of vaccine. So far, 67 percent, or 173 million people, got at least the first dose. Around 58 percent of all adults in the United States are already fully vaccinated.
