By: Teddy Grant

A sometimes-somber President Joe Biden addressed the nation on Thursday night to mark a year since the coronavirus pandemic shut down the country, reflected on lives lost and announced his plans to have every adult eligible for the vaccine by May 1.  

Biden paid tribute to the 530,000 lives that were lost to COVID-19 in the last year, saying that it’s been “a year filled with a loss of life, a loss of living for all of us.”  

“Finding light in the darkness is a very American thing to do,” he said. “It may be the most American thing we do.”  

The president reflected on how much has changed in people’s lives this past year, how people couldn’t spend time with their loved ones, kids not being able to see their friends [or] graduating seniors not being able to have a graduation ceremony.  

“The things we used to that filled us with joy became things we couldn’t do,” Biden said.  

The Road Ahead 

Biden said that the country will soon have enough vaccines for every American and has ordered states and territories to allow every adult eligible to be vaccinated by the first day of May.  

“To do this, we’re going to go from a million shots a day to maintaining [or] beating our current pace of 2 million shots a day,” he said.  

By his 60th day in office, the president said that 100 million shots of the vaccine would be administered, exceeding a goal of 100 million shots by his 100th day in office.  

He also urged Americans to listen to science and scientists like Dr. Anthony Fauci. “The more people that are fully vaccinated, the CDC will provide additional guidance,” the president said.  

Biden hopes that by Independence Day that the nation marks its independence from the virus and that Americans can spend July 4 with their family and friends, but that relies on coming together as Americans.  

“Defeating this virus and getting back to normal depends on national unity,” Biden said. “Unity is what we do together as fellow Americans. If we don’t stay vigilant and conditions change, we may have to reinstate restrictions to get back on track.” 

Anti-Asian violence 

Since the start of the pandemic, hateful rhetoric and actions against the Asian-American community has increased, partially due to former President Donald Trump referring to the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus.”  

Biden said that the rise of anti-Asian violence in the country must stop.  

According to an analysis from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, anti-Asian hate crimes rose by almost 150 percent in the last year in major cities, such as New York and Los Angeles. 

The American Rescue Plan 

Biden thanked Congress for passing the American Rescue Plan, which he signed into law on Thursday afternoon, one day earlier than planned. The $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan will give most Americans a direct payment of $1,400, expand unemployment benefits, provide billions to struggling businesses as well as expand the child tax credit, which he said would cut child poverty in half.