Sharjah24 – AFP: US President Joe Biden defended his handling of a spiraling baby formula supply crisis Wednesday, insisting at a meeting with infant food executives that the White House is doing all it can.
A product recall and shutdown of a major plant by industry leader Abbott in February triggered a dramatic and ongoing reduction in availability of formula for parents across the country.
Increasingly, the issue is also turning into a political maelstrom for Biden, with critics questioning his command of the crisis.
Biden told reporters Wednesday that he was only informed about the looming problem in early April and that he'd pulled all the levers of government to resolve shortages ever since.
"I don't think anyone anticipated the impact of the shutdown of one facility," Biden said at a meeting with the executives from five companies helping to take up the slack caused by Abbott's problems.
"Once we learned the extent of it and how broad it was, it kicked everything into gear," Biden said.
However, the executives at the meeting contradicted this, saying they'd been able to tell immediately in February that a crisis was imminent.
"We knew from the very beginning," said one, Robert Cleveland, a senior vice president at Reckitt.
Pressed later by reporters about the White House response and Biden's command of the situation, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted that staff had been taking action from "day one," even if Biden himself had not been involved initially.
Top executives from Reckitt, ByHeart, Bubs Australia, Gerber and Perrigo joined by video conference at the meeting featuring Biden, Health Secretary Xavier Becerra and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. The notable absence was anyone from Abbott.
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