After US President Joe Biden invoked the Defense Production Act (DPA) last week to solve the statewide shortage of baby formula, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Sunday that there is presently no date for when parents may expect to see infant formula return to store shelves, Fox News informed.
During a press conference aboard Air Force One headed to Tokyo, where Biden would attend a meeting with the “Quad” alliance, a reporter asked Jean-Pierre when parents “trying to buy infant formula” in the United States will be able to find some.
Following Abbott Laboratories’ announcement of a Similac recall earlier this year, there has been a significant nationwide infant formula shortage that has landed numerous babies in the hospital.
According to Datasembly, the share of infant formula out of stock in the United States reached 43 percent in the week ending May 8, making many parents around the country anxious to obtain food for their babies.
Biden stated on Wednesday that he will invoke the DPA to address the shortfall, allowing him to order manufacturers to increase output and create a new program called “Operation Fly Formula” to allow faster import of baby formula.
A military plane delivering 78,000 pounds of specialist infant formula, “enough for almost half a million bottles,” will land in Indiana on Sunday, according to Jean-Pierre.
Jean-Pierre said that this formula was made in an FDA-approved plant and, like all food imports, will be inspected upon arrival, adding that this type of formula serves a key medicinal purpose and is in short supply in the United States as a result of the Abbott Sturgis facility shutdown.
She also said that normally, transporting these goods from Europe to the United States might take two weeks but thanks to Operation Fly Formula, they have reduced that time down to around three days.
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