{O/C} President Joe Biden emulated the success of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy's renowned "moonshot" speech 60 years ago in a move to boost cancer prevention efforts.
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President Biden drummed up support for crushing cancer by taking a page from former President Kennedy's "Moonshot" speech in which he set his sights on overtaking Russia in the intense space rivalry.
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JOE BIDEN, U.S. President:
He (John F. Kennedy) established a national purpose that could rally the American people in a common cause. And he succeeded.
And I believe we can usher in the same national purpose to end cancer as we know it and even cure cancers once and for all.
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Biden plans to nudge his nation closer to the goal of reining in cancer fatalities nationwide by 50 percent over the next 25 years.
That will significantly improve the lives of selfless caregivers and cancer sufferers.
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This Cancer Moonshot is one of the reasons why I ran for President.
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His audacious proposal boils down to the American Cancer Society's estimate that by year-end, 1.9 million will have fallen victim to cancer, with over 600,000 fatalities in all.
Amplifying the sense of urgency is the CDC which rank cancer as the second-highest killer, behind heart disease.
The President's eldest son, Beau's 2015 brain cancer death was cause for Congress to approve the 21st Century Cures Act, which steered 1.8 billion U.S. dollars over seven years to cancer research.
It was codified in 2016 by then President Barack Obama.
But Biden's "Moonshot" initiative lacks that budgetary support.
What's more, Biden is also touting blood tests to diagnose cancers as early as possible, as well as calling for more affordable cancer drugs.
But with adequate investments, experts say the objective is possible.
Still, Biden called for unity in relentlessly stultifying cancer.
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Cancer does not discriminate, red and blue. It doesn't care if you're a Republican or a Democrat.
Beating cancer is something we can do together.
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