The news has been focused on the shortage of medical supplies to combat the COVID-19 virus. The Federal and State governments have been looking for opportunities to purchase Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for our healthcare workers and ventilators for the patients suffering from the virus.
Healthcare workers on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19 say there aren’t enough supplies for what’s likely to come next as the novel coronavirus continues to spread throughout the United States. Hospitals also fear the supply of ventilators will soon outstrip the need as more COVID-19 patients are expected to come through their doors with acute respiratory needs.
The full resources of the federal government include some emergency stockpiles maintained for times of crisis. Those reserves are the Strategic National Stockpile. The following are some key facts about the Strategic National Stockpile:
- What is the Strategic National Stockpile?
The stockpile is an undisclosed number of government warehouses stashed with resources to combat large-scale crises. The warehouses are strategically placed throughout the country, ready for deployment.
It’s the nation’s largest supply of potentially life-saving pharmaceuticals and medical supplies in the event of a public health emergency severe enough to cause local supplies to run out, with inventory valued at $8 billion, HHS said.
Managed by HHS through the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, the stockpile also contains beds and other equipment to set up temporary hospitals, along with medical equipment, including respirators. The department said the stockpile currently holds16,660 mechanical ventilators that can immediately be deployed to supplement state and local equipment but declined to say how many N95 masks and other PPE the stockpile contains.
- When was the Strategic National Stockpile established?
In 1999, Congress tasked HHS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to establish the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile. The departments initially received about $50 million in funding, with an initial goal of preparing the country against potential agents of bioterrorism like botulism, anthrax, smallpox, plague, viral hemorrhagic fevers and tularemia.
- How has the Strategic National Stockpile been utilized?
The stockpile was first used following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Officials dipped into pharmaceuticals and medical supplies to deploy immediately to victims and first responders.
Later that year, vaccines and medicine from the stockpile helpedin the response tothe anthrax attacks. In 2003, it wasrenamed Strategic National Stockpile, shifting the focus away from pharmaceuticals.
In the time since, it has been used most often following natural disasters. When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, thousands of beds, vaccines and vials of insulin, among other resources, were sent to Louisiana and Mississippi.
But it’s also been used in response to public health crises, including in the H1N1 pandemic in 2009, Ebola in 2014 and Zika in 2016.
As of March 17, the most recent update available, HHS said it hasdeployed morethan 333 tons of cargo to support state needs for personal protective equipment such as masks and dressing gowns, as well as other efforts in response to the current pandemic.
- How does a State get access to supplies?
An HHS spokesperson declined to say which states have requested access so far, but said allocations are based on a jurisdiction’s population size.
Many states have their own stockpiles that can be used with permission from the FDA and CDC, although HHS doesn’t track those supplies. Once state resources run out, they can request federal stockpile access.
State health officials put in a request to HHS. If approved, the HHS assistant secretary for preparedness and response will direct deployment of supplies to state public health officials, who are then responsible for distributing the supplies to areas in need.
- Who has gotten supplies for COVID-19 response?
States have been requesting supplies from the stockpile, but officials say they’re getting only a fraction of the supplies they’ve asked for so far.
Massachusetts is waiting to receive its full request from the stockpile: 750,000 each of N95 face masks, surgical masks, gloves, goggles, gowns and air purifying respirators. State officials put in the request March 5. Massachusetts representatives said the state had only received roughly 10% of the supplies it requested.
Washington state public health officials had received only a small portion of the supplies requested from the stockpile — 54 of the 540 requests from hospitals and clinics have been filled.
On March 17, state attorneys general from Massachusetts, New York and California wrote a letter to President Donald Trump expressing an urgent need for PPE.
The Strategic National Stockpile needs additional supplies to meet the challenges of COVID-19. The federal government should consider utilizing the recently approved Defense Production Act and direct businesses to produce PPE and ventilators at specific levels of volume during this crisis.