By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

It’s the Fourth of July, everyone, a time for cheering, celebrating and acknowledging the accomplishments of this great nation.

Oh, but one thing we aren’t celebrating: President Biden’s prediction that we would have 70 percent of our population vaccinated fully against the COVID-19 virus.

Hey, we stand at 66-plus percent. That’s not bad. Am I worried that the president’s goal remains unmet? Only if we give up on the battle to get everyone vaccinated while eradicating the killer.

It was an ambitious goal to be sure.

I will compare it instead to where we were a year ago. The nation is faring many times better these days than we were at this time in 2020. The vaccines are being distributed. We have pledged to share much of it with needy nations. Infection rates are down, as are death rates. Yes, we have these troublesome virus variants with which to contend.

President Biden’s goal of 70 percent vaccination is far from a deal breaker. It only should remind us of work that still awaits for us to return to what we like to call “normal” activity.