Ventilator Supply Numbers a Very Quickly Moving Target

U. S. Senators Christopher Murphy (D-CT) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) have written to Vice President Mike Pence, demanding information about the quantity of supplies in the Strategic National Stockpile and the process by which those supplies are allocated as the nation fights the COVID-19 pandemic. "Hospital administrators, mayors, governors, and members of Congress, myself included, have been begging your administration for months to establish a centralized acquisition process," Murphy wrote Pence. "Efforts now must focus critical resources to areas of our country experiencing the greatest increase in COVID-19 cases with the largest capacity shortfalls. But without any explanation of the means by which the federal government is determining which states get what supplies, doctors, nurses, medical providers, and the general public are left in the dark to speculate about the political motivations behind them." Harris also included FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on her letter to Pence. “Now that FEMA has assumed responsibility for coordination of the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including oversight of the depleted SNS and securing and allocating badly-needed supplies from manufacturers and abroad, Congress and the American people need to know how decisions are made and prioritized,” she wrote. A member of Murphy's staff said that as of April 10, they had received no response to the r...
Source: MDDI - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: COVID-19 Source Type: news