5 things: 35 tons of baby formula arrives in the US 2:25
(CNN) --
The Biden administration is arranging for an additional shipment of infant formula this Thursday, the White House announced, transporting the special formula from Switzerland to the United States through ongoing Operation Fly Formula efforts. as the federal government continues to work to address the shortage.
The administration, the White House said in a statement first obtained by CNN, is hiring a flight "facilitated by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for Operation 'Fly Formula' to transport the Nestlé infant formula from Switzerland to Louisville, Kentucky, on June 16.
That shipment, the White House said, will include more than 44,000 pounds, or nearly 20,000 kilograms, of Nestlé Health Science's special formula Alfamino and Alfamino Junior.
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That supply "will be available primarily through a distribution line that serves hospitals, home health businesses, and WIC programs across the US," according to the White House.
Even with the government airlifting tons of formula from other countries and infant formula maker Abbott Nutrition reopening a factory that previously produced a significant amount of the powdered formula sold in the United States, getting supply back to retailers across its regular level could take weeks, and some estimates indicate relief may not come until mid-July.
Abbott's infant formula manufacturing plant in Sturgis, Michigan, closed in February and reopened earlier this month.
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Formula shortage worries parents in America 4:29
The shortage has affected millions of families across the country and has the Biden administration scrambling to figure out what went wrong, following a clear miscommunication and mismanagement by the Food and Drug Administration of United States (FDA).
Thursday's flight from Switzerland to Kentucky will mark the seventh Operation Fly Formula flight, the White House said, and by June 19, those flights "will have imported the equivalent of nearly 13 million 8-ounce bottles of formula." childish".
infant formula