Biden FINALLY acts: First baby formula mercy flight (Operation Fly Formula)is loaded with 31 tons in Germany – as infants are admitted to hospital in US due to shortages and pediatrician says ‘crisis’ is worsening
Efforts to alleviate baby formula shortages saw 31 tons of baby food loaded onto a military aircraft on Saturday that’s now headed for Indiana.
President Biden’s Operation Fly Formula will see 132 pallets of the Nestle-manufactured powder arrive in the US later on Saturday.
It comes as multiple infants were admitted to hospitals across the US after suffering allergic reactions to homemade formula, with one pediatrician warning the crisis will only worsen.
The White House says 132 pallets of Nestlé Health Science Alfamino Infant and Alfamino Junior formula will leave Ramstein Air Base in Germany and arrive in the U.S. this weekend.
Another 114 pallets of Gerber Good Start Extensive HA formula are expected to arrive in the coming days.
‘These formulas have been prioritized because they serve a critical medical purpose and are in short supply in the United States because of the Abbott Sturgis plant closure,’ a White House official said.
Altogether about 1.5 million 8-ounce bottles of the three formulas, which are hypoallergenic for children with cow’s milk protein allergy, will arrive this week.
While Biden initially requested that the Pentagon use commercially chartered aircraft to move the formula from Europe to the U.S., the White House said no commercial flights were available this weekend.
Instead, U.S. Air Force planes will transport the initial batch, in what has been dubbed ‘Operation Fly Formula.’
It comes as babies are being hospitalized across the US due to worsening formula shortages, with doctors warning worse is to come, as Biden faces questions over his slow response.
The Medical University of South Carolina confirmed that at least four babies have been admitted to the hospital due to the formula shortage as of Thursday night, while Dr. Mark Corkin said he’s treating two toddlers for the same issue at the Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, CBS reported.
An unknown number of babies are also being treated at a hospital in Atlanta.
According to the hospitals, the babies were admitted due to reactions they suffered from drinking formula different from the ones they usually drank because parents could not find the product amid the shortage.
‘I’ve never seen anything like this,’ Corkins told CBS. ‘They come in dehydrated. We give them IV fluids. We give them nutrition by vein. But that’s not a long term solution.’
The hospitalization reports come after the Biden administration approved its ‘Operation Fly Formula’ to deliver more than two hundred pallets of formula from Germany to the U.S. on Friday. The Nestle formula – enough for 1.5 million eight ounce bottles – should touch down in Indiana Saturday.
The nationwide shortage in baby formula comes after an Abbott plant in Sturgess, Massachusetts, was shut down in February following a contamination incident. Abbott is one of four producers of formula in the U.S., which relies on the companies for 98 percent of the baby formula it consumes.
That single plant in Sturgess produces 80 per cent of the domestic supply of amino acid formula.
The average out-of-stock rate for the key product hit 43 percent earlier this month, according to Datasembly.
It has left parents scrambling to find enough baby formula for their infants as they are faced with rows of empty shelves across the country, which are sporadically refilled as producers try to maintain a steady flow.
The situation has had a dire impact on babies who only consume a single brand of formula due to allergies or dietary restrictions, flinging parents into worry and despair when they can’t track down the product.
Ashley Strom, the mother of Chloe, a 7-and-a-half-month-old girl, is one such parent who said her baby sustains herself on one type of formula because she can’t tolerate dairy.
[It’s] just terrifying to think, ‘What if I couldn’t find her specific formula,” Strom told CBS. ‘Because it’s not like Chloe can just eat whatever is available.’
Ellen Burnette, of South Carolina, is another parent who’s worried about running out of the formula brand her two-year-old son needs.
‘It’s been really difficult to find any,’ Burnette told WLTX. ‘When I went online, I could only get half a months’ worth.’
‘[It’s] just terrifying to think, ‘What if I couldn’t find her specific formula,” Strom told CBS. ‘Because it’s not like Chloe can just eat whatever is available.’
Ellen Burnette, of South Carolina, is another parent who’s worried about running out of the formula brand her two-year-old son needs.
‘It’s been really difficult to find any,’ Burnette told WLTX. ‘When I went online, I could only get half a months’ worth.’
Although the shipment is expected to provide relief in the coming weeks, many were quick to slam the Biden administration have taking too long to push the plan through.
Twitter user Philllip Larry asked, ‘AND the REASON he did not do this 2 weeks ago is?’
Another Twitter user with the handle Paulv wrote: ‘Little late Joey! Where you been for the last year?’
Theresa Allen McKittrick, a fellow Twitter user, wrote: ‘About damn time something’s done!’
Another Twitter user with the handle Barely Soiled simply wrote, ‘3 months late, Bozo.’
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