US wasted months before preparing for Covid-19 pandemic: Report
India TodayAfter the first alarms sounded in early January that an outbreak of a novel coronavirus in China might ignite a global pandemic, the Trump administration squandered nearly two months that could have been used to bolster the federal stockpile of critically needed medical supplies and equipment. "The notion of the federal stockpile was it's supposed to be our stockpile," Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and adviser, said at a White House briefing Thursday. Trump, who pledged on March 27 that his administration would ensure that 100,000 additional ventilators would be made available "within 100 days," said on Thursday that he'll use the Defense Production Act to order Respironics and other ventilator makers to step up production. In a House Oversight and Reform Committee briefing last week, top Federal Emergency Management Agency officials hedged, saying 100,000 ventilators would be available by late June "at the earliest."
History of this topic
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India Today
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