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President Biden is aiming for the country to begin to find a degree of normalcy and begin to move on from the coronavirus pandemic by the July 4th holiday, Biden announced in his first prime-time address Thursday night from the White House on the one-year anniversary of the pandemic. Biden said meeting a goal of small family gatherings "will make this Independence Day truly special." It would "not only mark our independence as a nation, but mark our independence from this virus," the president said. Biden stressed he was not calling for gatherings of large groups, however, and he warned that getting there would take work by all Americans, continuing social distancing, wearing masks and getting vaccinated. (Montanaro and Weiner, 3/11)

Biden announced an expansion of other efforts to speed vaccinations, including deploying an additional 4,000 active-duty troops to support vaccination efforts and allowing more people — such as medical students, veterinarians and dentists — to deliver shots. He is also directing more doses toward some 950 community health centers and up to 20,000 retail pharmacies, to make it easier for people to get vaccinated closer to their homes. Biden added that his administration is planning to launch a nationwide website to help people find doses, saying it would address frustrations so that there would be “no more searching day and night for an appointment.” (Miller and Lemire, 3/12)

Biden’s speech, clocking in at 24 minutes, served as an inflection point on the 51st day of his presidency. The president had spent his first few weeks carefully managing expectations for recovery and frequently blaming the Trump administration for many of its early challenges, criticisms he renewed indirectly on Thursday night. But Biden took greater ownership of the pandemic battle — and exposed himself to a potential backlash if he does not deliver. “If we do our part, if we do this together, by July Fourth, there’s a good chance you, your family and friends can gather in your backyard and have a barbecue and celebrate Independence Day,” Biden said. “After this long hard year, that will make this Independence Day something truly special, where we not only mark our independence as a nation, we begin to mark our independence from this virus.” (Sullivan, 3/11)

The president spoke on the same day that he signed into law a $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package, one year after much of the U.S. economy ground to a halt, as the virus spread. In a 23-minute speech, Mr. Biden said the U.S. was operating on a war footing and urged the weary public to maintain vigilance against the virus. He also reflected on the toll that the pandemic has taken on millions of Americans. ... At times, Mr. Biden struck an optimistic tone—touting the administration’s progress in its early stages—but he also reminded Americans that a return to normalcy would require caution and an adherence to public-health guidelines. (Restuccia and Siddiqui, 3/11)

Seeking to comfort Americans bound together by a year of suffering but also by “hope and the possibilities,” President Biden made a case to the nation Thursday night that it could soon put the worst of the pandemic behind it and promised that all adults would be eligible for the vaccine by May 1. During a 24-minute speech from the East Room, Mr. Biden laced his somber script with references to Hemingway and personal ruminations on loss as he reflected on a “collective suffering, a collective sacrifice, a year filled with the loss of life, and the loss of living, for all of us.” (Rogers, 3/11)

At least twice, Biden spoke about the need for grandparents to reconnect with their grandchildren, a missing familial bond during a pandemic that older adults are more susceptible to. Recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released on Monday allowed for fully vaccinated people to visit indoors with unvaccinated healthy people from a single household, without wearing masks or physical distancing. The new guidance used grandparents and grandchildren as an example. (Cancryn and Din, 3/11)