The White House is flexing its muscle in defense production by using it to increase vaccine production, provide more COVID-19 tests at home, and create more personal protective equipment, officials said Friday.
Tim Manning, the national supply chain coordinator for the COVID-19 response under President Biden, said DPA will be used to get Pfizer more equipment and supplies so he can get the vaccines out faster.
“Currently, one of the factors constraining increased vaccine production is the limitation of equipment and ingredients,” Manning said at a White House COVID briefing.
He said the federal government will extend the priority ratings of Pfizer’s supply contracts so that it can obtain the materials before anyone else and allow them to take more photos.
“We are expanding the priority ratings for Pfizer … to produce the COVID vaccine,” said Manning, who used to work for FEMA.
“Actions like this will allow Pfizer to increase production and reach its goals of delivering hundreds of millions of doses in the coming months.”
Manning said the federal government is also using the DPA to increase the supply of COVID-19 rapid tests at home, bringing in six new suppliers that will be able to deliver 61 million tests by the end of the summer.
“The country is far behind where we have to do tests, especially fast home tests, which will allow us all to return to normal activities, such as work and school,” Manning said.
Earlier this week, the working group announced a plan to bring the first over-the-counter COVID test to Americans via Australian company Ellume, and six other suppliers are in contract negotiations now, which will end in a few weeks, he said. Manning.
To reach the $ 61 million goal, DPA will be used to help companies build new plants and build new production lines on U.S. soil, which will reduce “our vulnerabilities to supply chain disruptions,” Manning said. .
Finally, Manning announced plans to produce more surgical gloves by building plants to produce the raw materials needed for the equipment and then factories to produce them.
“We are already working to increase the availability of N95 masks for front-line workers, but another critical area of concern that we always hear is surgical gloves. Right now we don’t have enough gloves, we are almost 100% dependent on foreign manufacturers to export to us the surgical gloves in our country that protect health care workers and this is unacceptable, “said Manning.
“By the end of the year, we will produce more than a billion nitrile gloves a month right here in America. We will now do enough to meet half of all the demands of the American health care community, right here on the shores of the United States. ”
Manning said there are additional plans to use DPA for programs that allow scientists to track COVID-19 variants and see new ones, but more funding is needed to start projects.
“Congress could help that effort a lot by adopting the U.S. Rescue Plan,” Manning said, referring to the $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package that was adopted by the Senate on Friday.