Biden administration replenished medical reserves, funded domestic production

President Joe Biden took steps to bolster government stockpiles of health supplies and increase domestic production of vital medical supplies, after the COVID-19 pandemic exposed weaknesses in the country's emergency preparedness. 

Biden assumed office as COVID-19 was killing more than 20,000 Americans a week, and controlling the pandemic was high on his campaign promise list. He promised to rebuild the U.S. medical stockpiles that had been depleted during the pandemic and improve domestic manufacturing to prepare the country for future medical crises. 

The Strategic National Stockpile, a program under the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response that holds medical supplies for emergencies, had challenges meeting the demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, partly because it relied on just-in-time supply chains from foreign countries, government oversight reports said. 

Biden signed federal budgets that included funding increases for the Strategic National Stockpile. The stockpile's funding grew from $705 million in 2020 to $908 million in 2023, the Congressional Research Service said. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Strategic National stockpile sent out 90% of its total personal protective equipment. Since then, the stockpile has added hundreds of millions of gloves, masks, and gowns to refill that inventory, according to the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response.

The stockpile's exact contents are kept secret for security, but in some cases, it holds more supplies than it did before the pandemic. The stockpile has 43 times more N95 masks than it did before the pandemic, 10 times more ventilators and 266 times more medical gloves, the administration told PolitiFact.

Biden's administration has also worked to boost U.S. medical supply manufacturing.

The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law included a division called the Make PPE in America Act that directed federal agencies to fund domestic medical equipment manufacturing. In March, the White House published a forecast of the federal demand for that equipment.  

Under authority Biden granted through the Defense Production Act, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness Response has awarded more than $75 million to U.S. companies to produce medicine ingredients in 2024. 

In October, the Biden administration awarded $367 million in contracts to U.S. companies to produce supplies for the Strategic National Stockpile. In May, the Biden administration increased tariffs on imports of medical supplies like syringes and personal protective equipment from China in an effort to spur domestic manufacturing of the products.

The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response has worked with domestic manufacturers to increase manufacturing capacity of the basic materials used in testing supplies and pharmaceuticals, the administration said in a statement to PolitiFact.

Biden's administration replenished several key materials for the country's medical stockpiles and boosted local manufacturing of important medical supplies and pharmaceutical components. We rate this Promise Kept.