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WASHINGTON -- Doctors need to encourage patients who have missed cancer screenings due to the pandemic to step up and get that care, President Biden said Wednesday during an event to reignite his "Cancer Moonshot" initiative.

"Today I'm announcing a call to action for cancer screening and early detection," Biden said at the event in the East Room of the White House. "If you were supposed to get a cancer screening during the pandemic, call your primary care doctor today. If you're that doctor, talk to your patients; get a screening schedule, whether it's in the office at home or through a telehealth visit ... Most private insurance plans, as well as Medicare and Medicaid, cover the recommended preventive care screenings free of charge." Biden also called on healthcare companies and nonprofits to develop mobile units and pop-up screening clinics "to reach people where they live." He noted that an estimated 9.3 million cancer screenings were missed due to the pandemic.

The revamped moonshot has two goals, according to a : cutting the age-adjusted death rate from cancer by a least 50% over the next 25 years, and improving the experience of people and their families living with and surviving cancer. The president also said he is forming a "cancer cabinet" made up of various federal departments and agencies, including the departments of Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs, Defense, Energy, and Agriculture, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, NIH, National Cancer Institute (NCI), FDA, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CDC, and various White House officials. The cabinet will help establish and make progress on Cancer Moonshot goals, and will be led by Eric Lander, PhD, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Biden also called on Congress to fund his proposal for an Advanced Research Project Agency for Health (ARPA-H). "This is a new kind of entity within the NIH with the autonomy and authorities to drive unprecedented progress in biomedicine," he said. "ARPA-H will have a singular purpose to drive breakthroughs to prevent, detect, and treat diseases including cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, and other diseases. I think there's strong bipartisan support for this, but it costs money. These are the best dollars we could spend, so we've got to get it done."

For its part, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will accelerate efforts to nearly eliminate cervical cancer through screening and HPV vaccination, with a particular focus on reaching people who are most at risk. And the White House will host a "Moonshot Summit" designed to bring together agency leadership, patient organizations, and biopharmaceutical companies -- as well as the research, public health, and healthcare communities -- to highlight innovation, progress, and new commitments to ending cancer.

Biden was preceded in his remarks by several speakers, including First Lady Jill Biden, who talked about the heartache the Bidens experienced when her stepson and President Biden's son Beau Biden developed a brain tumor and died at age 46. "Cancer changes everyone it touches, and in some ways, it touches us all," she said. "For Joe and me, it has stolen our joy. It left us broken in our grief. But through that pain, we found purpose, strengthening our fortitude for this fight to end cancer as we know it."

Vice President Harris talked about the death of her mother -- a breast cancer researcher -- from colon cancer at age 70. "I will never forget the day that she sat my sister and me down and told us she had been diagnosed with colon cancer," Harris said. "It was one of the worst days of my life and an experience that sadly, millions and millions of people in our country have had ... As I cared for her during those many months, I watched her courageous fight. But after countless rounds of chemo, her body gave out." Although the Cancer Moonshot hasn't yet ended cancer, "we are so much closer," she said.

Oncology groups applauded the Biden administration's move to reignite the Moonshot initiative. "Since the Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot was announced in 2016, the National Cancer Institute has provided more than $1 billion to more than 240 research projects to speed advances in cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. A reinvigorated Cancer Moonshot could help us make even greater progress towards these goals, and drive action on new opportunities," Howard "Skip" Burris III, MD, board chair of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), said in a statement.

"We are especially glad to see that the proposal includes a major focus on equity, diversity, and inclusion," Burris said. "For all the progress we've made to improve cancer prevention, screening, care, and outcomes for patients, stubborn disparities continue to persist. ASCO and other stakeholders have been working on this issue for more than a decade, and with support from the administration, we hope that we'll be able to accelerate this progress and make headway towards true equity in cancer."

Ending cancer in our lifetime "is a necessary goal as cancer remains the second leading cause of death in the United States," Ted Okon, MBA, executive director of the Community Oncology Alliance, said in a statement. Okon called on the administration to extend the , a Medicare payment demonstration that rewards oncologists for taking financial and performance accountability for episodes of care surrounding chemotherapy administration to cancer patients; the model is currently slated to end in June. The model "has done so much to improve the experience of patients facing cancer," Okon said. "Keeping the promise of the Cancer Moonshot requires a dedication to real action, not just a handshake and a promise."

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