A Boston.com article reports The U.S. tried to build a new fleet of ventilators. The mission failed.
« Thirteen years ago, a group of U.S. public health officials came up with a plan to address what they regarded as one of the medical system’s crucial vulnerabilities: a shortage of ventilators. »
« Money was budgeted. A federal contract was signed. Work got underway. »
« The project — code-named Aura — came in the wake of a parade of near-miss pandemics: SARS, MERS, bird flu and swine flu… The ventilators were to cost less than $3,000 each… Ventilators at the time typically went for about $10,000 each »
« Newport, which was owned by a Japanese medical device company, only made ventilators. Being a small, nimble company, Newport executives said, would help it efficiently fulfill the government’s needs. »
« Covidien had acquired Newport to prevent it from building a cheaper product that would undermine Covidien’s profits from its existing ventilator business. »
« The project ultimately produced zero ventilators. »
[ Corona virus, COVID-19 ]
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