U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance said critical shortages and vulnerabilities in the U.S. supply chain for key medical personal protective equipment (PPE) could allow the Chinese Communist Party to shut down medical practices in the United States. It’s ringing the alarm.
In a letter Thursday to Democratic President Joe Biden’s Health and Human Services Secretary, Xavier Becerra, Vance and other senators criticized the Biden administration’s response to the plan launched by former President Donald Trump early in the pandemic. He pressed Biden officials on the vulnerabilities caused by the failure. The idea is to start making things like medical gloves again in America. Other senators who signed the letter, which was provided exclusively to Breitbart News in advance of its release, include Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL). included.
“We wrote to express our concerns about the state of the U.S. supply chain for personal protective equipment (PPE) and other critical medical supplies,” Vance and his colleagues wrote to Becerra. sent a letter. “Recent news investigations have revealed that America’s medical supply chain is as vulnerable now as it was before the COVID-19 pandemic. Without swift action by this administration, our nation will be left without essential supplies. We may once again become dependent on our enemy.”
Nurses wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) concentrate while treating patients with COVID-19 at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center in Tarzana, California, December 18, 2020 Talking to colleagues from inside the treatment room (ICU). (Photo credit: Apu GOMES/AFP) (Photo credit: APU GOMES/AFP, Getty Images)
As Breitbart News previously reported, the Biden administration’s failure to manufacture medical gloves in the United States has led to China rapidly gaining market share in the medical glove industry. Vance addressed the issue in his letter, noting that President Trump initiated an effort to create medical gloves needed for U.S. health care providers, but that Biden mishandled it.
LUNAN, CHINA – MAY 6: Employees work on the nitrile glove production line at the factory of Zhonghong Pudding Medical Products Co., Ltd. in Lunan County, Tangshan City, Hebei Province, China, on May 6, 2022. (Photo credit: Zhang Yongxin/VCG, Getty Images)
“President Trump has implemented policies to increase domestic PPE production capacity and strengthen the domestic medical supply chain,” Vance wrote to Becerra. “He invoked the Defense Production Act to convert manufacturing facilities for PPE production. He also directed the International Development Finance Corporation to fund domestic personal protective equipment production and strengthen medical supply chains. He directed $100 million in financing. He also said he would invest billions of dollars in projects to expand production facilities, expand the National Strategic Stockpile (SNS), and oversee PPE production and procurement across the private sector. A supply chain control tower was established to strengthen domestic procurement policies. The Biden administration inherited these policies and plans. Rather than building on the foundation established by President Trump, this administration tried to start from scratch and failed. President Biden was unable to renew President Trump’s executive order, which expires in 2022, or replace it with similar authority. Your department released a 40-page assessment of the public health supply chain and industrial infrastructure, but has not taken appropriate steps to ensure the health of the country. Production of PPE. ”
From there, Vance details the glove industry. He said that despite hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars being spent by the Biden administration to help build factories to produce domestically, none of the facilities are operational and no projects have been completed. No, he pointed out.
“Consider the supply chain for nitrile gloves, the basic rubber gloves that doctors and nurses use on a daily basis. In July 2021, your department, in collaboration with the Department of Defense, announced that 31 billion gloves ( announced a “safety valve ecosystem” for nitrile gloves and related raw materials capable of producing approximately 25% of annual U.S. consumption. The investments made to date have brought us no closer to achieving this goal,” Vance said in a letter to Becerra. “Your Department’s Office of Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) will invest $574 million in six companies to produce gloves and $267 million in two companies to supply a combined 180,000 tons of raw materials. dollars invested. None of these companies’ facilities are operational and none of their funded projects have been completed.”
Mr. Vance then discusses how Mr. Becerra has overseen the systematic weakening of these medical glove supply chains, and the level of U.S. dependence on China during his time as Secretary of Health and Human Services and Mr. Biden’s presidency. pointed out how it had increased.
“Today, under your watch, the domestic nitrile glove supply chain remains as unstable as ever,” Vance wrote. “SNS [Strategic National Stockpile] The company has procured just 4 billion gloves for its inventory (12 days worth) that is scheduled to expire this year. Federal agencies are unable to comply with domestic procurement requirements due to supply shortages. The Office of Made in America exempted the purchase of 5.55 billion foreign-made gloves. Meanwhile, Japan’s healthcare system is becoming increasingly dependent on China. In the first quarter of 2020, when the pandemic began, China supplied just over 5% of the nitrile gloves purchased in the United States. By the end of 2023, Chinese-made gloves will account for 42.5% of the US market. All available evidence shows that our critical medical supply chains are as vulnerable now as they were before the pandemic. Despite billions of dollars in federal spending and investment to build low-profile production lines within the medical device supply chain, the project remains unfinished. The programs that established the Trump administration are now under your watch. While China maintains control over key consumables markets, new efforts have failed to bear fruit. ”
Mr. Vance then posed five detailed questions to Mr. Becerra and gave the HHS secretary until April 29 to respond. Mr. Vance’s questions to the HHS Secretary are as follows:
- Completed of seven contracts (six for glove manufacturing and one for rubber manufacturing) issued by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense in 2021 for the production of nitrile gloves and rubber (specifically acrylonitrile butadiene rubber, or NBR). How many cases? ?
- If the contract is complete, are those companies currently manufacturing NBR or gloves using the purchased equipment?
a) How much NBR and gloves are produced?
b) What percentage of U.S. needs does this represent?
c) If nothing is currently being produced, how long will it take for “capacity” to become operational?
d) Are contracts issued to ensure that “competence” is not impaired?
e) Will HHS simply write off these investments if no contracts have been issued to keep the “capacity” in good standing? - A recent waiver from the Made in America Office for the 5.5 billion glove purchase states that there is zero NBR production in the United States, and there is not enough glove production to meet this purchase. How many gloves are currently produced in the United States?
- A recent memo from DHS states that production of NBR is zero and there is not enough glove production to meet the purchasing requirements of the DHS, VA, and HHS PPE Manufacturing in America Act. How many gloves do I need to purchase per year under the Make PPE in America Act?
- A November 2023 press release states that your department’s Office of Industrial Infrastructure Management and Supply Chains has invested $17 billion in 87 contracts to expand the nation’s manufacturing industrial base. How many full-time employees do you have to manage this extensive investment portfolio?
a) How many of these colleagues work in your department’s complex?
b) Are any of your colleagues contractors? If so, how many?
At the end of his letter, Vance explained that the United States must stop relying on foreign powers for critical personal protective equipment and other supplies.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has been the gravest source of injustice and humiliation for the United States in recent memory, from lockdowns and school closures to mask and vaccine mandates,” Vance said. wrote. “Such policies have undermined public confidence in American leaders and institutions. Most humiliating is that the communist state responsible for unleashing this plague on the world is now providing the tools to fight it. We must end our dependence on foreign supply chains and protect ourselves from future humiliation.”
