US President Joe Biden, answering a question asking when he thinks the country will get back to normal, said in his townhall with CNN on Wednesday that the United States might be returning to normalcy by ‘next Christmas’, adding, however, that he is being cautious with predicting any timelines at the moment, according to a report by CNN.

Pointing towards the current state of vaccination in US , as well as the upcoming Johnson and Johnson vaccine, Biden noted that the effectiveness with which the virus spreads the disease “is going to diminish considerably” because of herd immunity.

Also read: Joe Biden confirms availability of vaccines for general public by end of July

“So if that works that way, as my mother would say with the grace of God and the goodwill of the neighbours, that by next Christmas I think we’ll be in a very different circumstance God willing, than we are today,” the 46th US President was quoted as saying.

The townhall with CNN also, incidentally, marked Biden’s first work-related outing after joining office, going in line with his hallmarks of maintaining social distancing reducing travelling.

Also read: New COVID-19 cases fall by 16% globally in last week: WHO

So far, 78-year-old Biden has travelled outside the Washington region on only one occasion, on a visit to his home in Wilmington, Delaware earlier in the first week of February.