U.S. Pandemic Could Severely Strain Face Mask, Other PPE Supply Pipeline

“Masks and respirators are vital to the protection of Americans during a pandemic, but the U.S. government and healthcare systems continue to buy foreign made masks,” Bowen says. “Prestige Ameritech has been very vocal about the dangers of relying on foreign countries for masks and respirators. With the exception of DHHS, our warnings have been met with ambivalence. DHHS fully understands the seriousness of the situation, but has yet to do anything to change it.” Bowen continues, “Currently, the materials to make face masks and respirators are made in the U.S. It is our belief that soon, this will not be true, and that like others before them, the raw materials will follow the manufacturing operations to Asia. When this happens, it will not longer be possible for America to protect its fact mask and respirator supplies. Now is the time to act.”

Prestige Ameritech’s proposed solution is for the country to embrace American manufacturing again. Bowen says that all healthcare GPOs should designate masks, respirators and other “pandemic medical countermeasures” as a special class of products that must be made in the U.S., and that all American healthcare institutions — from large healthcare systems down to small clinics and physician offices — should buy American-made PPE products exclusively. This purchasing exclusivity should be adopted by the U.S. government as well, Bowen emphasizes, adding that this plan will give the U.S. a stockpile to draw from during a pandemic and will ensure that the mask supply cannot be cut off by foreign governments. “Existing mask companies will grow, new mask companies will form, and mask companies who have left America will return,” Bowen says. “A few years ago, the French government discovered that in a pandemic, they would be reliant on China for masks. To remedy the problem, they issued government contracts for hundreds of millions of French-made masks. This spurred the creation of new face mask companies in France, thus solving the problem.”

Bowen says he is confident the U.S. will adopt a made-in-the-USA policy sooner rather than later. “Homeland Security Presidential Directive 21 directed the Department of Homeland Security to identify and remedy gaps in America’s pandemic preparedness plans,” he says. “The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) of the DHHS has identified the problem and is in the beginning stages of coming up with a remedy. We firmly believe that mask production will come back to America and are making preparations for it.”