Pressure on the medical supply chain continues today, and in “many ways things have only gotten worse,” the American Medical Association’s president, Dr. Susan Bailey, said in a recent statement.
Manufacturers say they risk significant losses if they invest millions in machinery, raw materials, new employees and factory space to churn out a product projected to have a short-lived demand, without assurances that the government will continue to buy their meltblown textile after the need for N95s recedes post-pandemic.
“The initial lack of personal protective equipment in nursing homes, and lack of infection control practices in general, contributed to a general community spread across the country,” said Harvard Medical School’s Dr. Andrew T. Chan, one of the authors. Because of this shift in usage, it’s hard to accurately estimate the severity of the shortages of medical-grade masks and gowns.
Meltblown is spun out of plastic pellets made from oil, typically polypropylene or polyethylene. The pellets are fed into a heated metal extruder, and jets of hot air force the liquefied plastic through an array of extremely small holes, producing fine plastic fibers. As the fibers cool, they overlap and stick together, forming a dense mesh.
“We’re now confronted with the same thing,” he said. “No one will guarantee volumes past 2021. And the issue is, the lead time for one of these machines is a year, so just as we get that machine set up and installed, that demand might go away.” “We have one of the most highly sought-after products the world over,” Lydall CEO Sara Greenstein said.
“I don’t have the cash,” he said. “If we continue to ramp up our production like we plan, we’re going to run out of meltblown.” Reese said. Meltblown shortages are “restricting our ability to do what we need to do for the country.” They’ve sent more than 40 shipping containers of meltblown material and related supplies offshore, with about 40% of it going to Pakistan, according to an AP analysis of data from Panjiva, the supply-chain research unit at S&P Global Market Intelligence.The DPA gives the U.S. government the authority to block exports of crucial products and materials.Greenstein of Lydall says if the U.S. wants a stable supply of medical equipment, it will have to produce all of its own meltblown.
“I’m willing to bear the cost,” she said, “to ensure that we have access to products and have our pipeline more stable than what we’ve seen in a global failure like this.”
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