The baby formula supply in eight states has been more than cut in half as the national formula shortage affecting helpless babies and their parents continues to worsen.
Baby formula out-of-stock (OOS) rates have eclipsed 50 percent in “Texas, Tennessee, Montana, West Virginia, Nevada, Arizona, Kansas and Delaware,” CNN reported.
“Our babies literally do not have the formula that they need to survive,” mother Carrie Fleming told the outlet.
OOS rates in Kansas reached 50 percent as of May 1, up from 43 percent the week prior, the Kansas City Star reported. Missouri saw a similar increase, as OOS rates climbed from 43 percent to 49 percent. According to the outlet, the OOS rates in both states at the start of the year were well below 20 percent, echoing parental concerns becoming more apparent elsewhere in the country.
Kansas mother Cara Shockley first learned of the dwindling formula supply from a coworker’s Facebook post in April, which showed naked shelves at a Walmart. Concerned for the well-being of her 14-month-old baby, she headed to her local Walmart in Kansas City.
“I started to get anxious,” Shockley said. “It was completely bare.”
Baby formula is one of the most affected products in the dysfunctional supply chain, causing fear and the urge to hoard in parents. https://t.co/uoIrhSEdfZ
Shockley, who had just half a can of formula at her home, headed to a Walmart in Shawnee, where she luckily purchased the last two remaining products. She and her husband had to travel to Shawnee the three following weeks. Each time, they purchased the only container on the shelves, according to the Star.
“It’s scary to bring up a child in these times. I’ve never heard of a baby formula shortage in my life,” Shockley explained.
Datasembly – “a provider of real-time product pricing, promotions, and assortment data for retailers of Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) brands,” as Breitbart News noted – reports that the national OOS percentage for baby formula was 43 percent “for the week ending May 8th.”
Katie Wussler, a program coordinator at Mother & Child Education Center, throws away recalled Similac baby formula, which the company would not replace or reimburse because the donated supplies did not come with a receipt, on May 12, 2022 in Portland, Oregon. More than 60 percent of Mother & Childs formula supply was affected by the recall. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
“Since early April, baby formula out of stock rates have soared to 40 percent across the country, according to our analysis,” Datasembly CEO Ben Reich recently told Breitbart News.
“Baby formula demonstrated inflationary spikes in July of 2021, and the situation has continued to worsen the first few months of 2022.
“Inflation, supply chain shortages and product recalls have continued to bring volatility to the category, and continues to be one of the most affected products in the market.”
Low income families and those on government support programs are being hit hardest by the national shortage of baby formula, a report Thursday detailed. https://t.co/SscXHrGTxJ
“It’s not just a problem. It’s a crisis, and it’s a crisis that’s only getting worse,” said Laura Modi, CEO, and co-founder of organic baby formula company Bobbie, according to CNN.
The Biden Administration’s incoming press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, had no idea who was “running point” on the baby formula crisis when asked Wednesday, as Breitbart News Joel Pollak noted:
Instead, she assured reporters that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was rushing to make sure formula is “safe.” She blamed “Abbott’s voluntary recall of infant formula products,” which took place after four infants were hospitalized, and two died, though there is no proven link yet with the formula itself, according to the FDA.(The White House cannot get its message straight: on Monday, press secretary Jen Psaki said the FDA had “issued” the recall.)
All the more eye-popping is Rep. Kat Cammack’s (R-FL) allegation that the federal government is shipping “pallets” of precious baby formula to the border, as Breitbart News’s John Nolte highlighted in a Thursday report.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you think we’re headed towards recession?
LLOYD BLANKFEIN: We’re certainly heading — it’s a very, very high risk factor. There’s a path, a narrow path, but I think the Fed has very powerful tools. It’s hard to finely tune them and hard to see the effects of them quickly enough to alter it. But I think they are responding well. It’s definitely a risk. If I was running a big company I would be very prepared for it. If I was a consumer, I would prepared for it. But it’s not baked in the cake.
The White House claimed President Joe Biden’s administration made the baby formula shortage crisis a top priority as early as February, even though the president claimed ignorance of the problem on Thursday.
“This is something he is focusing on very acutely and again I said 24/7 we’ve been working on this since we have learned about this back in February,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during the daily briefing about Biden, calling the issue “one of the presidents top priorities.”
Biden bristled when asked by reporters on Friday if he could have acted sooner to fix the crisis.
“If we had been better mind readers, I guess we could’ve, but we moved as the problem became apparent to us,” Biden said.
The president did not even personally mention the crisis until Friday, despite weeks of reports highlighting the problem.
“I’ll answer the baby formula question because, all of a sudden, it’s on the front page of every newspaper,” Biden grumbled on Friday.
He announced the launch of a new government website to help parents locate baby formula in stores, but it was beset by extremely long hold times and unhelpful information.
Jean-Pierre alluded to a comment from Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Bacerra claiming the Biden administration had been working on the issue since February and even as early as last year in 2021.
CNN: “You are satisfied with the government’s response throughout [the baby formula shortage]?”
HHS Sec. Xavier Becerra: “FDA has kept me apprised of this from LAST YEAR. We have been moving as quickly as we can” pic.twitter.com/5WRZa5chYg
“You’ve heard us talk about this, you’ve heard colleagues talking about what we have done since February,” Jean-Pierre said. “We’ve been working on this 24/7.”
Jean-Pierre refused to offer a timeline for when supplies of baby formula would return to normal.
“What I can say is there are a lot of dates floating around out there,” she said.
President Joe Biden struggled Monday with the correct pronunciation of the name of Aaron Salter Jr., a heroic ex-cop and security guard who died Saturday confronting the Buffalo mass shooting suspect.
“We pay tribute to all law enforcement officers and their families who understand what it takes, what’s at risk, to save and protect all of us,” Biden said. “That includes paying tribute to the Buffalo police officer Aaron Salder — Slater, excuse me — who gave his life trying to save others.”
Biden spoke about Salter during a Public Safety Officer Medals of Valor ceremony at the White House for law enforcement and public safety officials.
Salter was a Buffalo police officer for 30 years before retiring in 2022 and taking a security job at the Tops Friendly Market where the shooting took place.
Salter hit the alleged shooter with at least one round from his pistol, but it was blocked by the alleged shooter’s bulletproof armor. Salter was later shot and killed during the attack.
“You’re the heart and soul and very spine of this country and communities,” Biden continued, praising the public safety officials in the room.
During the ceremony, Biden also botched the name of Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a Democrat congressman from New York.
“Excuse me. You can call me ‘Bidden,’” Biden joked, mispronouncing his own name. “We’ve known each other so long and I still stumbled. I apologize.”