Biden responds to baby formula shortage after two-month delay

President Joe Biden raised eyebrows we he said “became aware” of “how intense” the ongoing baby formula shortage was “in early April.” This would put President Biden’s knowledge of the shortage roughly two months after baby formula producer Abbott halted production at the plant and recalled several brands of formula. The pause came amid an FDA investigation into bacterial infections among infants who consumed powdered formula from the plant.

“The question you always ask on every single thing: ‘Why didn’t you act sooner?’ Well, I don’t think anyone anticipated the impact of the shutdown of one facility in and the Abbott facility,” Biden said Wednesday. “Once we learned of the extent of it and how broad it was, we kicked everything into gear. And I think we’re, I think we’re on the way to be able to completely solve the problem.”

Biden’s comments are at odds with comments made by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at her daily press briefing Wednesday.

“We have been working on this issue since day one of the recall,” Jean-Pierre said. She could not explain the delay in raising the issue to Biden, but acknowledged that he is “frustrated” by the situation.

The comments came as Biden met with baby formula manufacturers to discuss the shortage Wednesday. Biden told the manufacturers the United States needs more companies to start making baby formula in order to avoid a future shortage. He also highlighted what his administration has done to address the shortage.

“We launched Operation Fly Formula, a major effort to airlift infant formula that meets Americans health standards and safety standards,” Biden said. “We’ve already conducted two flights with 1.5 million eight ounce bottles of Nestlé and Gerber’s hypoallergenic formulas for children with severe allergies.”

Biden has also invoked the Defense Production Act (DPA) to require suppliers to provide ingredients used to make formula to manufacturers ahead of other customers. However, both of these moves happened in the last month, roughly a month after Biden was informed of the shortage.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.