Azar: Feds Amassing PPE, But States Responsible Too

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar during his visit to a Boston hospital Friday said the federal government is working on a “next-generation strategic national stockpile" of personal protective equipment, but that it is up to states, municipalities and private companies to beef up their own supplies should they face another large-scale outbreak.

Azar joined Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, on a tour of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s test kit assembly areas and primary care practice. The visit comes three months after Baker declared a state of emergency over COVID-19. The Baker administration would spend weeks chasing down PPE, with some shipments disappearing or delivering masks that fell below health care workers’ expectations, before working with companies statewide to manufacture the gear.

When asked what he and other Trump administration officials should have done differently, Azar said the Strategic National Stockpile was only supposed to serve as a backup and that it had been depleted, adding the pandemic was a wakeup call that states, cities and private partners needed to build their own stockpiles.

“We have a next-generation Strategic National Stockpile focused on having 100% of the products needed for a pandemic—it had 28% when we inherited it—making sure it has inventory for a 90-day backup supply,” Azar said. “Of course, states, locals, the private sector have to be on the front lines, and they have to responsibly build up their own surpluses.”

Azar’s argument that the federal government inherited a depleted stockpile, a claim President Donald Trump has made in the past, has been refuted by former federal officials.

Dr. Nicole Lurie, who was assistant secretary of health and human services for preparedness and response under Obama, told NBC News while budget cuts affected their ability to rebuild the supply, they outlined plans for the current administration to refill the stockpile and quickly stock up in the event of a pandemic.

That plan was not implemented since Trump took office in January 2017, NBC News reported.

As Massachusetts hospitals prepared for a surge in April, the Baker administration found itself competing against the federal government on bids for PPE. State officials relied on help from the Kraft family and a host of little-known suppliers with little experience on protective gear, according to a report by the Boston Globe.

In April, the state launched a grant program to incentivize manufacturers to shift their resources to PPE production. The program promised eligible companies grant funding and advice, while allowing them to return to work to contribute to the state’s COVID-19 response.

As of mid-May, at least 15 companies have received grants to produce, repair or test PPE.

Baker was asked if he was ever told whether the state’s shipments of PPE were intercepted, referring to reports that shipments disappeared at American ports and may have been directed to the national stockpile.

“There are many states and many providers that had shipments of one kind of another mysteriously disappear. I accentuate the word mysterious. There is no real answer for us or for others with respect to what actually happened there,” Baker said. “Part of the reason why we created a program here in Massachusetts to encourage manufacturers to pivot and start to make PPE is because I want to make sure we are growing a lot of our own PPE here in the commonwealth on a go-forward basis.”

Azar said the federal government also was tasked with building a new testing system that was different in scale than the infrastructure for processing flu and Zika tests.

The next leg of the COVID-19 response, vaccine research and development, is already underway. Beth Israel is working with Johnson & Johnson on a vaccine. Moderna Inc., a Cambridge-based company, plans to test a coronavirus vaccine candidate on 30,000 people nationwide.

Azar said the Trump administration set a goal of having 300 million doses ready by early next year.