Effects
The shortage crisis has affected multiple countries, including Mexico, the United Kingdom, and rural areas of China and Australia. It has also impacted various products such as saline bags/infusion pumps.
Products Affected
Saline Bags/Infusion Pumps
To help alleviate the 2014 shortage, the FDA announced that it was working with the three U.S. manufacturers, Baxter Healthcare, B. Braun Medical, and Hospira, to increase supply. The agency also approved Fresenius Kabi USA to temporarily import its European sodium chloride 0.9% Freeflex Injection Solution for Intravenous Infusion into the U.S. market in late 2014. Then, in May 2015, the FDA approved Baxter’s Sabinanigo, Spain facility as a manufacturing site for 0.9% sodium chloride injection, USP, for the U.S. market. Even with these interventions, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) reported shortages of 0.9% sodium chloride irrigation and 0.45% sodium chloride injection bags throughout 2016 across multiple manufacturers, including B. Braun, Baxter, Hospira, and Pfizer.
N95 Masks
When COVID-19 surged in 2020, the resulting shortage of N95 respirator face masks in the U.S. highlighted the complexities of global medical product supply chains, as well as the need for serious modifications to ensure public health and safety. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted supply chains, resulting in a critical shortage of high-demand PPE, including N95 respirators, worldwide. In many countries, healthcare workers have little choice but to use substandard PPE and respirators, even homemade ones. Similar situations have also occurred during past pandemics and epidemics. National, local, regional, and hospital administrative authorities should have the oversight to monitor the demand for PPE and prioritize the needs of the frontline healthcare workers who are at the highest risks of exposure to the virus.