Dear Friend,
Thank you so much for signing up for our Feed Your Baby: #FormulaShortage
newsletter. We know this is a very stressful time for so many parents
trying to find infant formula for their babies - and we are here for you
as part of your support team. Check out the below update and resources you
can use!
Update on government action on infant formula:
Giant thank you to everyone who has been raising your voices about the
need for strong action to address the formula shortage. Your voices are
being heard! In the past week there have been a number of pro-active
moves by the Biden Administration and Congress to address the formula
shortage. Here is a run-down of what is happening:
* [ [link removed] ]The White House had directed the Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to use
Department of Defense (DOD) commercial aircraft to pick up overseas
infant formula so it can get to stores faster. They are calling this
Operation Fly Formula. The first two shipments arrived last week in
[ [link removed] ]Indianapolis and [ [link removed] ]Virginia, carrying over 180,000 pounds of baby
formula. They are estimating tens of thousands of babies and toddlers
will be able to access this formula, in particular babies who need
specialized formula because of allergies and medical needs. More
shipments are expected to be delivered by air from overseas in early
June.
* [ [link removed] ]The Biden administration has invoked the Defense Production Act
(DPA) to make sure that baby formula can be produced at home, which
will increase production and speed up supply chains.
* Congress took quick bipartisan action to [ [link removed] ]pass the Access to Baby
Formula Act which advances common-sense, but essential, flexibilities
that will provide regulatory relief and maximum flexibility to state
and local WIC providers as they support low-income families during
product recalls and public health emergencies. Unfortunately, Congress
failed to pass emergency funding for the FDA to deal with the formula
shortage when [ [link removed] ]Republicans blocked the bill.
* Congress also held [ [link removed] ]multiple congressional hearings on the formula
shortage, including with [ [link removed] ]Abbott Labs (the company responsible for
the formula recall and shortage) and other formula makers.
Actions you can take:
Share our #FormulaShortage Social Media Toolkit: We pulled together a
bilingual social media toolkit to educate and meet families where they are
to provide information and resources on maintaining food security for
their children, as well as collecting stories on how this shortage has
affected families. You can find the full toolkit [ [link removed] ]here.
In [ [link removed] ]this toolkit you will find sample language and images that you can
share on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. We encourage you to use this
toolkit to help us share how to best keep our babies healthy and fed
during this crisis and to help combat some of the misinformation out there
on the internet targeting parents (like that it is safe to use homemade
formula…which it is NOT!).
Share your story: It’s being reported that nearly 43% of popular baby
formula brands, including Similac, may be sold out at retailers across the
country. Are you one of the families struggling to find formula for your
little one? We want to hear from you! [ [link removed] ]Share your story with MomsRising
so we can understand what’s going on across the country with the baby
formula shortage and share your experience with leaders in our government
tasked with making changes so this type of shortage never happens again.
You can even share anonymously if you want. Share your story [ [link removed] ]here.
All of this information will also be available on MomsRising’s [ [link removed] ]blog
but if you have any friends who also would benefit from this information
have them sign up for our formula updates [ [link removed] ]here.
Feel free to reply to this email and let us know if there is anything
specific you would like us to address in our next newsletter.
Thank you so much,
Elyssa, Tina, Hanna, Selina, Lucrecer, and the entire
MomsRising/MamásConPoder team
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