Xinhua News Agency, Washington, March 24th (Reporter Xu Jianmei and Deng Xianlai) Peter Genna, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said on the 24th that since the outbreak of the U.S. crown pneumonia outbreak, the federal government will use the National Defense Production Act to purchase about 60,000 Virus kits.
Gainer said in an interview with US media that the U.S. federal government also plans to purchase 500 million masks. The procurement contract will also include some provisions of the National Defense Production Act.
US President Trump issued an executive order on the 18th to authorize the Minister of Health and Human Services to implement the National Defense Production Act in response to the outbreak. But for days, Trump has not used the National Defense Production Law, saying that enough companies in the United States have proactively produced medical supplies such as masks.
According to reports, with the rapid spread of the epidemic in the United States, medical supplies such as kits, masks, and ventilators are facing shortages throughout the United States. Several states in the United States have repeatedly called on the federal government to use the National Defense Production Act to produce and distribute medical supplies. However, some American business people worry that using the National Defense Production Act to produce and purchase "American goods" may complicate the supply chain of some key products.
According to the National Defense Production Law passed by the United States in the 1950s, the President has the right to require private companies to produce defense-related products, to adopt incentives, and to control the distribution of these products.