As of Feb. 2, 2022, President Joe Biden announced his Cancer Moonshot plan to end cancer. This mission began during his time in office as Vice President to Barack Obama in 2016 yet has now been reintroduced as he continues his time in the White House. 

The Cancer Moonshot began with the goal of increasing cancer research and the rate of progress against cancer. As many years have passed, Biden has recently announced the reestablishment of the Cancer Moonshot. While the overall goal of essentially ending cancer remains, they continue to refine and improve the initiative by focusing on bettering the lives of patients and their families while cutting the dancer death rate by at least 50 percent in the next 25 years.

According to Merriam-Webster, a moonshot refers to a project that is intended to have outstanding results after a heavy and consistent push. The push, in this case, is the billions of dollars going toward the succession of this initiative. According to the White House, “Five years ago, with the bipartisan passage and enactment of the 21st Century Cures Act, Congress invested $1.8 billion, providing seven years of new funding for cancer research in many areas…” This funding is allowing progress in clinical trials, cancer studies and screenings along with numerous other scientific advances. 

Cancer education has been a big part of the Biden’s lives as First Lady Dr. Jill Biden began her advocacy in 1993 in reaction to close friends being diagnosed, then later suffering the loss of Joe and Jill Biden’s son by brain cancer at the age of 46. Throughout the past 30 years, Jill has begun the Biden Breast Health Initiative while continuing to educate on early detection, cancer screenings and patient and family care. 

“All those we lost, all those we miss, we can end cancer as we know it,” said President Biden. “This is a presidential White House priority. Period.”

According to the Washington Post, Biden has called on Congress to help continue to fund the moonshot as about $400 million remains from their initial funding with two years left to go. As the ending of cancer has just about always been a goal of President Biden’s within his time in office, the question remains as the public wonders if it is as achievable as he says.