First lady Jill Biden, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy and other officials accepted a second shipment of infant formula to the U.S. on Wednesday.
The shipment comes as the Food and Drug Administration is permitting foreign-made infant formula to be shipped to the U.S. to help alleviate a shortage. The products being shipped to the U.S. is part of Operation Fly Formula that the Biden administration began last week. The operation is using Department of Defense resources to ship infant formula overseas to the U.S.
"I am here today to say to parents: You aren’t alone. At the highest levels of Joe’s administration, he and his team understand what you are going through," first lady Biden said. "They won’t stop until every parent can get the formula their child needs."
The first shipment arrived Sunday from Ramstein Air Base in Germany to Indianapolis, Indiana – equating to 500,000 8-ounce bottles of formula. The formula arriving Wednesday equates to 1 million 8-ounce bottles of formula.
The formula will be transported by FedEx Express to a Nestlé distribution facility near Allentown, Pa., the Biden administration said.
The severe shortage has been caused, at least partially, due to a Michigan plant, run by Abbott Laboratories, which shut down due to contamination fears, and disruptions in the supply chain.
