Why this Shortage of Personal Protective Equipment?
Excerpt: Swabs, ventilators, and other medical kits have also been reported in short supply. Why do we have a shortage? Such things do not spoil or expire. They aren’t blood, or even cheese. Properly stored, they could last years, decades, perhaps even centuries. In fact, they would probably become technologically obsolete before they would physically deteriorate. So why does no emergency stockpile of them exist? One does and its website claims that the ---“Strategic National Stockpile is the nation’s largest supply of life-saving pharmaceuticals and medical supplies for use in a public health emergency severe enough to cause local supplies to run out. When state, local, tribal, and territorial responders request federal assistance to support their response efforts, the stockpile ensures that the right medicines and supplies get to those who need them most during an emergency. Organized for scalable response to a variety of public health threats, this repository contains enough supplies to respond to multiple large-scale emergencies simultaneously.”---Apparently “multiple” and “large-scale” were not numerous or large enough. In fact, its stockpile was depleted during the H1N1 scare a decade ago and never replenished. [This is a really eye-opening article about medical equipment, medical insurance, and how they interact. It also addresses possible fixes for the problems. I added emphasis. Ron P.]
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