INDIANAPOLIS — President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden shared an Easter greeting on Sunday where they emphasized the importance of getting a coronavirus vaccination.
In their message, the Bidens spoke of hope emerging after a little over a year of loss caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Today as spring returns, we see hope all around us," First Lady Jill Biden said in the Easter message.
She went on to talk about businesses reopening, families getting financial help, and that "more and more Americans are getting life-saving vaccines."
President Biden went on to urge Americans to get a shot in the arm, calling it a "moral obligation."
"We share the sentiments of Pope Francis who says getting vaccinated is a moral obligation, one that can save your life and the lives of others," President Biden said in the video. "By getting vaccinated and encouraging your congregations and your communities to get vaccinated, we not only can beat this virus, we can also haste the day where we can celebrate the holidays together again."
To date, over 61 million Americans — which is about 18.5 percent of the population — have gotten fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In Indiana, vaccinations continue to climb. More than 1.2 million Hoosiers are now fully vaccinated. As of 5 a.m. Sunday, 1,241,513 individuals were fully vaccinated — 18,435 of those were newly reported.
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More than 1.7 million Hoosiers have received at least their first shot of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, while more than 1.1 million have received both. More than 89,000 Hoosiers have received the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Click on the video player to watch President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden's Easter greeting.