Uncertainty on Strategic National Stockpile prompts Congressional questions

Members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee wrote United States Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar this week with concerns about efforts to replenish the much-depleted Strategic National Stockpile.

That stockpile has been deeply impacted during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen states struggle to consistently deploy enough personal protective equipment and other critical medical supplies. The stockpile has aided such efforts, but with COVID-19 cases continuing to grow in the United States — they are now at more than 2,600,000 — the senators wished to assess the current state of the stockpile.

U.S. Democratic Sens. Gary Peters (MI), Maggie Hassan (NH), Tom Carper (DE), Kamala Harris (CA), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), and Jacky Rosen (NV) participated in the letter.

“Recent reports indicate that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is working to replenish the Stockpile’s depleted reserves, but the agency has not provided adequate transparency on what the Stockpile currently holds or what targets are for supplies going forward,” the senators wrote. “The administration more broadly has failed to provide requested information about how personal protective equipment and other critical supplies are being prioritized and distributed, including how the administration is balancing current needs on the ground with stocking up on supplies for the future.”

Without knowing what is there, the senators reasoned, the nation cannot properly aid state and local governments’ public health efforts. As such, the senators requested to know the current contents of the stockpile, the plans to restock it while continuing to provide supplies to states in need, how the Defense Production Act has been used to address supply needs and how the Trump administration intends to make decisions about the stockpile’s distribution.

“Delays in action and information sharing could lead to continued shortages of lifesaving personal protective equipment and medical supplies,” the senators said.

The request followed an oversight hearing with the committee on the subject earlier this week. At that time, witnesses Daniel Gerstein of the RAND Corporation and former director of the Strategic National Stockpile Greg Burel were pressed on the U.S. over-reliance on foreign supply chains for medical supplies. This problem has been highlighted by and drawn repeated criticism throughout the pandemic.