I have a vivid imagination, but I cannot dream-up any scenario in which the Biden administration recovers from sending pallets of baby formula to the border as American families are desperately trying to feed newborns and infants.
Therefore, it is no surprise that the White House is frantically seeking someone to take the blame for the Biden baby formula fiasco. On her last day as Press Secretary, Jen Psaki issued this talking point, trying to paint Biden bureaucrats as heroes in this shameful episode:
The White House on Thursday defended the closure of the Abbott plant that resulted in a shortage of baby formula but officials couldn’t say when parents will see more products on the empty grocery store shelves.’The reason we’re here is because the FDA took a step to ensure that babies were taking safe formula. There were babies who died from taking this formula so they were doing their jobs,’ White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at her daily press briefing.
Abbott issued a series of tweets that challenged the Biden narrative.
It’s important to note that Abbott was the primary supplier of formula under the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Once a the plant in Michigan was closed due to contamination concerns, parents began turning to other brands.
Between the closure and the supply chain issues, it was known as early as February of this year that keeping adequate supplies of formula on the shelves was going to be problematic.
The shortage began late last year, months before Alaya or Alessandra were born. At the time, many formula ingredients were caught in the disrupted supply chain, alongside infant strollers, car seats and cribs.But the shortage grew more dire in February, after two babies died and two others were hospitalized with Cronobacter infections linked to formula from an Abbott Laboratories plant in Sturgis, Mich.Abbott makes more than 40% of the baby formula sold in the United States, mostly under the brand Similac. It is also the primary supplier for WIC programs in many states, including Louisiana, Washington and Texas.
But still Biden persisted, claiming nobody could have predicted this crisis.
… Biden on Friday lashed out at critics as he defended his administration’s actions to relieve the infant formula shortage that has panicked parents worried about feeding their babies.’If we’d been better mind readers, I guess we could have,’ Biden said when asked if his administration should have acted sooner.Biden was speaking at an event on community policing and said he would only speak on that topic before – somewhat grumpily – conceding to talk about formula shortages.’I’ll answer the baby from the question because all of a sudden it’s on the front page of every newspaper,’ he said.
Biden asserts that the crisis will be over “in a matter of weeks.” This is questionable, but he has to say something given his administration’s incompetence.
Contrary to the Biden admin politicking, manufacturers of baby formula say Americans should expect continuing formula shortages for the rest of the year.
Perrigo Company PLC, which makes store-brand baby formulas for retailers, including Walmart Inc and Amazon.com Inc, expects shortages and heightened demand to last for the “balance of the year,” Chief Executive Murray Kessler told Reuters in an interview.The Biden administration this week has come under increasing pressure to address a baby formula shortage, which has roots in a February recall of some formulas by one of the nation’s main manufacturers, Abbott Laboratories.”We have stepped up and are killing ourselves to do everything we can,” Kessler said.Perrigo’s formula manufacturing facilities in Ohio and Vermont are now running at 115% of capacity, Kessler said.
Going into November with empty shelves and desperate parents isn’t likely to inspire enthusiastic support for the Democratic Party agenda or its candidates.
At this point, I can only pray that fiasco does not result in any infant deaths.
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