WASHINGTON (WV News) — Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R.-W.Va., is applauding President Joe Biden’s efforts to speed up the production of baby formula, but she wants to know how the current formula shortage currently impacting the country was allowed to happen.
Biden made the right move by invoking the Defense Production Act to prioritize formula production, Capito said on Thursday, but questions remain about what can be done to prevent future supply issues.
“Who would have thought, in a country such as ours, that we would have a situation where young mothers and fathers are concerned about whether they can find enough formula to feed their children,” she said.
“I was really happy that the president invoked the Defense Production Act so we can produce quicker and more.”
Lawmakers now want to know what the Biden Administration and regulators like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration did or didn’t do that led to the current problem, Capito said.
“How could this have happened? Why did the FDA and the administration not act quicker to try and alleviate what is a really scary and unsettling thing for our young families,” she said. “I think about those children who have special allergies where the only alternative is a specialized formula and the panic they must be feeling right now.”
There seems to have been no prior consideration that a formula shortage could occur, Capito said.
“A lot of our states rely, through the Medicaid program, which is one of the largest purchasers of formula, on one specific brand ... and so then when that goes down like it did in terms of production and it’s closed, there’s no flexibility for the states and others to move to other types,” she said. “There was no contingency plan by the administration, nor has there ever been, to fill that gap.”
The current shortage is a “tough lesson to learn” about the nation’s domestic supply chains, Capito said.
“We need to make sure that we have a supply, but we also need to make sure that if something were to happen and the FDA were to have to close a facility that we have the ability to create and make alternative facilities,” she said. “I think that’s been the real problem.”
The shortage of formula stems back to February, when Abbott Nutrition, the largest manufacturer of infant formula in the county, announced a recall of powered formulas due to concerns about bacterial contamination at its facility in Sturgis, Michigan.
Biden, in a memorandum announcing he had invoked the Defense Production Act, said the a combination of Abbott’s recalls and supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is to blame for “an acute disruption in the supply of infant formula in the United States.”
“Adequate supply of infant formula is critical to the health and safety of the millions of children who depend on the formula for essential nutrition,” Biden said. “The federal government has worked in the last several months to address the shortfall in infant formula, but additional measures are needed to ensure an adequate supply of infant formula in the United States and thereby protect the health and well-being of our nation’s children.”