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March 12, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – President Joe Biden came under fire Thursday for remarks claiming there was a “good chance” Americans could celebrate this year’s Independence Day in person “if we do our part” to end the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the fact that millions of Americans have already been gathering in person for months without issue, and last year many Americans also celebrated July 4 in-person, with traditional fireworks and barbeques.

Biden delivered the remarks to mark one year since the outbreak of COVID-19 sparked shutdowns of private activity across the country in the name of containment.

“Look, we know what we need to do to beat this virus,” Biden said. “Tell the truth. Follow the scientists and the science. Work together. Put trust and faith in our government to fulfill its most important function, which is protecting the American people — no function more important. We need to remember the government isn’t some foreign force in a distant capital. No, it’s us. All of us. ‘We the People.’”

The president said he was working toward the intention that all adult Americans would be “eligible to be vaccinated no later than May 1,” that his administration would be working to expedite Americans’ ability to locate vaccine providers, and that vaccination was a key part of the “massive, nationwide effort to reopen our schools safely.”

Perhaps most alarmingly, he next said that “in the coming weeks, we will issue further guidance on what you can and cannot do once fully vaccinated, to lessen the confusion, to keep people safe, and encourage more people to get vaccinated.”

Biden then made a personal appeal, declaring “I need you to get vaccinated when it’s your turn and when you can find an opportunity, and to help your family and friends and neighbors get vaccinated as well.”

“Because here’s the point: If we do all this, if we do our part, if we do this together, by July the 4th, there’s a good chance you, your families, and friends will be able to get together in your backyard or in your neighborhood and have a cookout and a barbeque and celebrate Independence Day,” he said. “That doesn’t mean large events with lots of people together, but it does mean small groups will be able to get together. After this long hard year, that will make this Independence Day something truly special, where we not only mark our independence as a nation, but we begin to mark our independence from this virus. But to get there, we can’t let our guard down.”

Biden also implored Americans to “listen to Dr. [Anthony] Fauci, one of the most distinguished and trusted voices in the world,” and declared that “we need everyone to keep washing their hands, stay socially distanced, and keep wearing the masks as recommended by the CDC. Because even if we devote every resource we have, beating this virus and getting back to normal depends on national unity.”

Biden’s remarks were met with a heavy dose of derision online, with some mocking as “out of touch” the implication that Americans haven’t already resumed gathering with friends and loved ones and others criticizing the suggestion that Americans need government permission to exercise basic freedoms:

Even the left-leaning satirists of The Onion piled on with a parody version of the story titled, “Biden Announces Americans Will Be Able To Do What They Did At Christmas By July 4,” which ends with, “At press time, millions of Americans were looking forward to celebrating the good news at upcoming St. Patrick’s Day parties and bar crawls.”

While placing the burden of ending COVID-19 largely on the American people and their complicity, the Biden administration largely neglected the public health threat posed by the massive influx of illegal immigrants at the country’s southern border, which has spiked since Biden took office.

“Between January 25 and March 1, almost 110 border crossers released by Biden’s [Department of Homeland Security] had ended up testing positive for the coronavirus,” Breitbart News reports. “The total number of coronavirus-positive border crossers being released is likely much more, as the data was collected from only one region in Brownsville, Texas. Even after border crossers test positive, they are not required to quarantine. Instead, many continue traveling into the U.S. interior to various states.”