The federal government’s goal to bolster an emergency stockpile of respirator masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) for health workers has failed, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
In one example, the Trump administration said in May it wanted to increase its emergency supply of N95 respirator masks to 300 million in the next three months, but by mid-November, past the deadline, the number available was only 142 million.
There are also other such instances. Even as coronavirus cases continue to soar nationwide, the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) main September recommendations on how to ease supply shortages have not been adopted by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the government has still not developed a centralized database to distribute medical gear to all health providers.
In addition, a federal crisis response program hasn’t met its staffing goals for health responders.
HHS responded by saying that some GAO proposals were vague and based on incomplete data, insisting that HHS has filled all supply requests made of the stockpile.
Despite these assurances, some state leaders and health officials are increasingly concerned.
Ali Raja, an emergency-room doctor, said “The disconnect between what’s purported to be in the stockpile and the needs on the front-line is astounding” in citing the fact that there is no centralized federal database for PPE.
Some states say they have received damaged goods from the government, while others said they have used private vendors in order to boost their supplies.
The shorfalls in PPE have raised concern among some about the administration’s ability to deliver on its goal to provide a vaccine to everyone who wants it by June.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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