WEBVTT

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And let's dive into some
of the complexities of this
shortage of baby formula,

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including what it will take to
alleviate it more quickly and to
fix bigger problems over time.

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Our Ali Rogin been reporting
on this. And she joins me now.

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Ali, you have been looking
at this for quite some time.
And you're reminding us

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that there's a bigger context
here. So remind us about the.

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ALI ROGIN: That's exactly right.

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Across the industry, people
have been telling me today that
the measures the White House

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introduced, they can't hurt,
but they're not really things
that are going to address

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the core issues here. A
lot of these companies,
they haven't had issues

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obtaining those raw
materials that Brian
Deese was talking about,
materials and ingredients.

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And, as he said, it's a
proactive measure. It's meant
to ensure that companies

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that have ramped up
production can sustain
those levels of production
without any interruption.

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The same can be said for
these flights that the
White House has introduced.

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Industry representatives say
that this isn't a chief driver
of the crisis. But, again,

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it can't hurt. For example,
a spokesman for Abbott
Labs today tells me that
they have already had

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emergency airlifts of their
product from an FDA-approved
facility in Ireland. But they

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say that, of course,
they welcome any measures
that might be able to cut
down on transfer time.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: Now, we
know that this issue,
Ali, has been getting a
lot more attention from

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lawmakers. They have
been pressuring the
White House, urging the
White House to do more.

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The FDA commissioner
today testified on the
Hill. Tell us about that.

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ALI ROGIN: Yes.

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What Brian Deese did
not refer to, which is
important to point out,

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is that the FDA is under a lot
of scrutiny for its timeline,
how quickly it acted. There was

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a whistle-blower report that
came out in October of 2021.
The FDA did not interview

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that whistle-blower
until December, and
then they did not do an
inspection of that Sturgis,

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Michigan, facility, that was
the nature of the whistle-blower
complaint until January.

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So there are a lot of
questions about that timeline.

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Commissioner Califf
was before the House
Appropriations Committee today.

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He demurred on a lot of those
specifics, citing an ongoing
investigation, but that

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didn't really satisfy
a lot of lawmakers,
including Appropriations
Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro.

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REP. ROSA DELAURO (D-CT):
You can't hide behind
investigation. We need
answers. We need them now.

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ROBERT CALIFF, Commissioner,
Food and Drug Administration:
I know we have an oversight

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hearing next week. And we will
be prepared to go into much
more detail at that point.

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As I have said, we could do
better than we did. And...

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REP. ROSA DELAURO: You
have an oversight committee

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next week. You're on
before the committee
that funds what you do.

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ROBERT CALIFF: Yes.

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REP. ROSA DELAURO: So,

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these -- this information
is relevant to this
Subcommittee of Appropriations.

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ROBERT CALIFF: Well, I
appreciate what you're
saying, but it's -- the
investigation is not

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completed yet. And so
I'm not in a position to
answer specifics like that.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: So, Ali, what are
seen to be then -- beyond what

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the administration is
doing, what are seen to be
the chief solutions here?

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ALI ROGIN: Yes.

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To the immediate crisis,
it's all about getting
formula back on the shelves.
And the FDA announced

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earlier this week that
it is working with Abbott
Labs to reopen that closed
facility in Sturgis,

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Michigan. The reopening
process is going to take about
two weeks, and then it might

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be an additional six to eight
weeks before we see any of
that product back on shelves.

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But all of this reveals a
paradox, which is that the
two entities most responsible

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for this crisis are also
the ones with the most tools

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available to help get us out of
it. The House earlier this week
voted to approve an additional

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$28 million in emergency
funding for the FDA to beef
up their food safety program.

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And the FDA is also surging
resources to Abbott to help
it reopen this facility.

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As Brian Deese noted, Abbott
and three other companies
make up 90 percent of the

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American market share. And as
this crisis has revealed, these
companies are too big to fail.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: And you were
telling us, Ali, there are
also seem to be longer-term

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solutions that need
to be addressed, that
need to be looked at.

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ALI ROGIN: Yes, this
is really forcing an
industry-wide reckoning.

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Brian Deese talked about
increasing competitions.
And legislatures this
week -- legislators also

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addressed a very important
part of this, which
is federal funding for
low-income infant nutrition,

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which actually covers about 50
percent of all American infants.
It's a program known as WIC.

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State WIC programs actually
went really quickly
in expanding access

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for WIC beneficiaries state by
state. But that's because they

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had existing flexibilities
because of the COVID-19
national health security crisis.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: Right.

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ALI ROGIN: And so
lawmakers today, the Senate
unanimously passed a bill

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to make those WIC flexibilities
permanent. The House passed it

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earlier this week with
nine no-votes. It now heads
to the president's desk.

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Of course, the scrutiny of the
FDA is also going to continue.
Commissioner Califf, as well as

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executives from three of those
four formula companies back
on the Hill next week. Judy,

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they're going to be
testifying before the
House Energy and Commerce
Committee next Wednesday.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: We're learning so
much about this industry, which

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I think most of us
knew very little about.

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ALI ROGIN: Absolutely.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: Ali Rogin,
thank you very much.

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ALI ROGIN: Thank you.