WASHINGTON — On the day that President Biden had lengthy anticipated as a milestone within the struggle in opposition to the coronavirus, the White Home hosted a celebration to each commemorate the July 4 vacation and herald the administration’s progress towards overcoming the pandemic.

In bringing collectively some 1,000 individuals for the biggest deliberate occasion of Mr. Biden’s presidency, the White House has been forced to walk a fine line, striving to sign progress towards restoring normalcy whereas nonetheless acknowledging the hazards of a pandemic that continues to say hundreds of lives a day.

The president continued that technique on Sunday, evaluating the nation’s struggle for independence to the battle in opposition to the coronavirus.

“200 and 45 years in the past, we declared our independence from a distant king,” he stated throughout the occasion. “Right now, we’re nearer than ever to declaring our independence from a lethal virus. That’s to not say the battle in opposition to Covid-19 is over. We’ve acquired much more work to do.”

For months, the White House had July 4 circled as a breakthrough second within the pandemic, the purpose at which many restrictions may very well be lifted if the nation met formidable vaccination targets.

Within the months after his election, Mr. Biden offered only guarded hope that small teams would be capable of collect by the vacation weekend whereas nonetheless observing acquainted security steerage.

However as vaccination charges climbed steadily all through the spring, the White Home grew extra assured, describing the vacation as the start of a “summer time of freedom” and the occasion on Sunday as a celebration not solely of Independence Day but additionally of “independence from Covid-19.”

Along with Mr. Biden’s speech, the celebration included a barbecue honoring attendees — a gaggle of first responders, important staff and repair members, almost all of whom have been vaccinated and in a position to go with out masks in accordance with guidance released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Could. Visitors mingled on the South Garden, having fun with pulled pork and rooster whereas a reside band performed all through the night.

In his remarks, the president mirrored on the greater than 600,000 Individuals who’ve died from the virus over the previous 16 months.

“Today falls exhausting on all those that’ve misplaced a liked one,” Mr. Biden stated. “Every day, I carry a card in my pocket with my schedule on it. On the again of that schedule, on that card, I’ve the variety of Individuals who’ve misplaced their lives to Covid.”

However the president additionally addressed the current, imploring unvaccinated Individuals to get photographs. “It’s probably the most patriotic factor you are able to do,” he stated.

Mr. Biden expressed gratitude to the important staff and army households whose work all through the pandemic has helped carry new instances and deaths down by greater than 90 p.c from their peak in January. They “grew to become the sunshine to see us by the darkness,” he stated.

Nonetheless, the Biden administration has been compelled to concede in latest weeks that many challenges lie forward, and the president was cautious to remind the gang a number of instances of the menace the pandemic nonetheless poses.

Whereas the White Home as soon as focused July 4 because the date that at the very least 70 p.c of adults can be at the very least partly vaccinated, officers acknowledged final month that they’d almost certainly miss that goal because the vaccination fee has plummeted from a peak in April.

And whereas 20 states, Washington, D.C., and two territories exceeded the 70 percent mark final week, the nation’s progress as a complete has slowed considerably, with solely about a million doses now being administered every week on common. On Sunday, roughly 67 p.c of adults had obtained at the very least one shot, according to data compiled by The New York Times.

The speedy unfold of the extremely contagious Delta variant has additionally raised considerations amongst public well being officers, who concern that new outbreaks might happen in components of the nation the place vaccination charges have stayed comparatively low, and that the variant might mutate in ways in which depart even vaccinated Individuals weak.

Whereas the pageantry on the White Home introduced a show of normality that appeared removed from seemingly at first of Mr. Biden’s time period, the event was characterised by a way of restraint hardly ever seen beneath the earlier administration.

At the same time as new instances swelled towards a summer time peak final yr, President Donald J. Trump went forward with a 35-minute fireworks show and army flyovers on the Nationwide Mall, in opposition to the needs of Mayor Muriel E. Bowser of Washington, who urged individuals to not attend. The fireworks present this yr will likely be solely half as lengthy, and Ms. Bowser, inspired by progress on vaccines, has welcomed visitors again to the town.

Beneath Mr. Trump, the White Home hosted different giant gatherings lengthy earlier than vaccines had been accredited, together with two celebrating the nomination and confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, wherein he and a number of other different attendees have been believed to have been uncovered and contaminated.

For Mr. Biden, the celebrations this yr appeared choreographed to sign that Individuals might take pleasure in some extent of normality in coming collectively, whilst he and his personal public well being officers have continued to emphasize the significance of sustaining momentum on vaccines.

Within the days main as much as the occasion, the president was cautious to reiterate that even amid the vaccination effort, america remains to be averaging a whole bunch of Covid-19 deaths every day. He urged Individuals to not be complacent.

“I’m not involved there’s going to be a serious outbreak — in different phrases, that we’re going to have one other epidemic nationwide,” Mr. Biden advised reporters on Friday. “However I’m involved lives will likely be misplaced.”

However regardless of latest setbacks to his administration’s targets, the president appeared able to embrace the second.

“Right now, whereas the virus has not been vanquished, we all know this: It not controls our lives, it not paralyzes our nation,” Mr. Biden advised the gang on Sunday. “And it’s inside our energy to ensure it by no means does once more.”