HHS Refused to Secure N95 Masks for Coronavirus, Whistleblower Says

Bright, who had served as head of BARDA since 2016, realized that the masks and other equipment would be in short supply.
On January 21, Mike Bowen, co-owner of Prestige Ameritech, the largest surgical mask producing company in the U.S., contacted Bright to express concern about the shortage of the masks.
“I’ve alerted [Critical Infrastructure Protection, a division of HHS over which Kadlec has authority] on this throughout week.
“This week, we sent 1,000,000 masks to China and Hong Kong,” he wrote to Bright.
The two drafted a memo sent to the White House coronavirus task force that called for the U.S. to immediately halt the export of N95 masks and ramp up production.

The Intercept Member since June 14, 2020

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