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US government refused to make millions of N-95 masks at the start of the pandemic: report

The Department of Health and Human Services denied an opportunity to access millions of N-95 masks made in the United States in January, according to The Washington Post.

N-95 masks have been in high demand since the pandemic hit the United States and healthcare workers are scrambling to protect themselves as thousands of patients flood local hospitals.

On January 22, a medical supply company in Fort Worth, Texas, Prestige Ameritech, offered to increase production to make an additional 1.7 million N95 masks, noting that federal government stocks are dwindling.

The government declined the offer.

I don’t think we, as a government, are even close to answering these questions for you, Laura Wolf, director of the critical infrastructure protection agency division, responded the same day that Prestige asked questions. on its stocks, according to the post.

Michael Bowen, who owns the business, told HHS that his business receives various requests from private entities, but that it will be willing to reserve masks for the government.

We are the last major household mask company, he wrote on January 23, according to the Post. My phones are ringing now, so I don’t need public affairs. I’m just letting you know that I can help you preserve our infrastructure if things go really bad. I am a patriot first, the businessman second.

Bowen said it could increase production to make an additional 1.7 million N-95 masks per week. He told HHS that his company has four “like new” production lines in an email to the department, the newspaper said.

The reactivation of these machines would be very difficult and very expensive but could be achieved in a disastrous situation.

The exchange was mentioned in the 89-page whistleblowing report by Rick Bright, the former head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, who was ousted from his role in late April amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Bright filed an official complaint with the Office of the Special Council, claiming that he had been demoted for trying to “prioritize science and security over political expediency”.

Post emails show Bright unsuccessfully pressed Robert Kadlec, assistant secretary for emergency preparedness and response, and other agency executives over the issue of mask shortages, including Bowens’ proposal in particular.

Bright’s push came months before the United States began to see shortages of masks and other protective equipment in hospitals across the country.

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