This week, the House of Representatives passed a provision authored by Representative Tom Malinowski to ensure the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), the United States’ national repository of critical medical supplies, be adequately stocked for the next major pandemic.
The language was included in the Fiscal Year 2022 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies funding bill, which works to address our nation’s most urgent health crises, strengthen lifesaving biomedical research, and bolster public health infrastructure.
The provision requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to send a monthly report to Congress on the inventory of ventilators and personal protective equipment in the SNS, as well as an annual professional judgment budget for necessary expenditures to maintain the minimum level of relevant supplies.
This language is derived from the Congressman’s Providing Protective Equipment Act of 2020 and will help ensure that our government will be better prepared to respond to future emergencies.
“At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, our Strategic National Stockpile experienced unacceptable shortages of lifesaving PPE,” said Malinowski. “This provision will ensure that our SNS is adequately monitored and stocked so we can be better prepared for future public health crises.”
In July, the House passed a $1.3 trillion government funding bill, which included a provision introduced by Representative Malinowski that would require the SNS be adequately stocked for the next major pandemic.
That provision required the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to send a weekly report to Congress on the inventory of ventilators and personal protective equipment in the SNS, as well as an annual professional judgment budget for necessary expenditures to maintain the minimum level of relevant supplies, including in the case of a pandemic.