Health Care

COVID-19 has been ravaging the United States since March. The pandemic opened the country’s eyes to the government’s and health care system’s lack of preparation for such a threat. For several months, the U.S. had “shortages of key equipment needed to care for critically ill patients including ventilators and personal protective equipment” in hospitals, according to The New England Journal of Medicine. Medical staff resorted to reusing personal protective equipment or, even worse, making their own. 

America’s population of 328.2 million poses another problem. When a vaccine is created, how will it be efficiently distributed? Rick Bright, the past director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, estimates that it will take anywhere from 650 to 850 million needles and syringes to vaccinate the U.S. alone. Yet Bio World points out that the Strategic National Stockpile carries “about 15 million needles and syringes,… about 2% of what will be needed.”