President Joe Biden is under fire as the baby formula scarcity worsens across the country, particularly in the South and among the poor.
The problem, which began when Abbott Nutrition had to close its Michigan plant due to safety concerns, resulted in bare store shelves, an increase in costs, and concerned parents, has disproportionately impacted minorities and lower-income families.
According to new statistics from the market-research firm IRI, 23 percent of powdered baby formula was out of stock nationwide in the week ending May 22, compared to 21 percent the week before.
Before the recall of the Abbott formula, 11% of powdered baby formula was out of stock because of covid pandemic-related supply-chain shortages and inflation. Before the pandemic, the normal out-of-stock range for powdered formula was 5% to 7%, according to IRI.
Kansas, Georgia, Texas, Montana and Tennessee are among the states experiencing the worst of the shortage.
Additonally, families that rely on funds from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, have also been hit hard.
The administration has not been able to say when more formula will be available.
But Biden will sit down with leaders of baby formula manufacturers ByHeart, Bubs Australia, Reckitt, Perrigo Co. and Gerber at the White House on Wednesday.
But one company is missing from the meeting: Abbott Nutrition, who started the shortage and is one of the nation’s biggest manufacturers of baby formula.
Heath and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy will join Biden at the sit down.
The meeting will serve as an update on the production of formula and on Operation Fly Formula – the administration’s program to fly in baby formula from overseas.
Abbott officials have said they expect to restart the plant on June 4 and begin shipping new formula to stores about three weeks later.
Nearly 98% of baby formula is manufactured domestically. Four companies account for roughly 90% of the market: Abbott, Reckitt, Nestle and Perrigo.
The Biden administration announced last week it is bringing in enough baby formula from Australia to fill 27.5 million full-size, 8-ounce bottles.
‘Bubs Australia plans to provide at least 1.25 million cans of several varieties of its infant formula,’ the FDA said.
Some of the product is already in stock and more is being manufactured, the agency noted.
But it hasn’t been announced when the product will arrive in the United States.
Already, two shipments of formula have come in from Europe under Biden’s Operation Fly Formula. They brought in total 1.5 million, 8-ounce bottles of formula.