WATCH: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris Make First Maskless Public Appearance after New CDC Guidelines

“Today is a great day for America.” Those were President Joe Biden’s first words at the podium in the Rose Garden as he addressed the White House Press Corps for the first time without a mask since the coronavirus pandemic began.

Several reporters who were there at the Rose Garden confirmed that reporters and White House staffers who had been fully vaccinated removed their masks too.

“Let’s go to the White House,” said CNN anchor Victor Blackwell. “This is President Biden in the Rose Garden and without a mask as he comes out on the day of the new guidelines from the CDC.”

Biden was joined by Vice President Kamala Harris, also maskless, as they walked outside. “Sun’s shining,” Biden was overheard saying happily. “You’ve got a great smile,” replied Harris.

“Well, today is a great day for America,” said Biden. “Our long battle with the coronavirus.”

The new CDC guidelines, Biden explained, no longer include recommending that fully vaccinated people wear masks, “whether you are inside or outside,” praising this news as “a great milestone, a great day.”

This was possible, Biden continued, because of America’s “extraordinary success” in vaccinating so many people — 250 million shots in 114 days.

“And we’re seeing the results,” he said, with cases down in 49 of 50 states, and both deaths and hospitalizations at the lowest they had been since April 2020. Other countries, even wealthy ones, were facing challenges with a slower vaccine rollout, but “things are very different here.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.