Support the Medical Supply Chain Emergency Act (S. 3568/H.R.6390) to #GetMePPE NOW!
Posted over 5 years ago by Patricia Sadowski
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The critical shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) will continue to cripple RNs, frontline health care providers, and facilities unless Congressional action is taken. Support the Medical Supply Chain Emergency Act (S. 3568/H.R.6390) to #GetMePPE NOW!
Thank you to all who participated in ANA’s Call to Action for Congress to increase PPE distribution for nurses and other frontline health care providers, which generated over 349,000 messages to Congress from over 113,000 nurse advocates. Congress included billions of dollars in the CARES Act toward additional PPE that will prove critical in protecting nurses on the frontlines of this pandemic – your voices were truly heard and it is time to make those voices heard once again!
Lives are still on the line and things will get worse before they are better. Our nurses continue working around the clock against the COVID-19 pandemic despite nationwide shortages of PPE. Frontline health care providers need more N95 respirators, ventilators, face shields, gloves and surgical gowns to keep them and their patients safe. In addition, the administration enacted the Defense Production Act (DPA) on March 18, authorized limited use of the DPA through executive orders on March 27, but has yet to fully exercise the complete authority of the DPA to produce more PPE. The Medical Supply Chain Emergency Act would force the administration to fully utilize the DPA and enable frontline providers to receive more PPE.
The DPA requires private companies to prioritize any federal government orders for products like PPE over other orders. The way manufacturers work is that it's either first request in, first request goes out or to the highest bidder. Currently the states are still working directly with the manufacturers and bidding against each other for masks.
Full utilization of the DPA would require manufacturers to sell to the federal government first and allow the feds to coordinate the distribution of PPE. Send your letter today >>
We applaud Congress for passing the CARES Act as well as the administration for finally exercising parts of the DPA, but those are only the first steps. The Medical Supply Chain Emergency Act is the next step, ensuring the administration will fully utilize the DPA and allowing private sector capacity for the creation of at least 500,000,000 N95 respirators; 200,000 medical ventilators; 20,000,000 face shields; 500,000,000 pairs of gloves; and 20,000,000 surgical gowns.
Thanks for helping to ensure that nurses working on the frontlines have the support and equipment needed to combat the outbreak of COVID-19.
Ingrida Lusis |
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