Baby formula out-of-stock rates soared to 70% in May, formula won't be restocked until July



The baby formula shortage continues to grow worse as shelves grow increasingly sparse and baby formula manufacturers and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continue to take a barrage of bipartisan criticisms.

In recent weeks, the out-of-stock rate for baby formula rose to 70% nationwide according to current data gathered by the retail data firm Datasembly, Fox Business reported. This marks a drastic increase in scarcity from the previous weeks when the national out-of-stock rate for baby formula stood at 45%.

In April, the gathered data suggested that baby formula shortages would hit 30% before jumping to 43% in early May, indicating that the formula shortage would grow far worse before it got any better.

The Sturgis, Michigan facility of Abbott Nutrition, which is at the center of the industry-wide formula shortage, is expected to restart production on June 4. However, according to the company’s timeline, this means that formula produced during this period won’t be available for purchase until mid-July at the soonest.

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf was once again questioned by lawmakers on Wednesday in a congressional hearing regarding why the FDA took months to inspect and shutter the Abbott Nutrition facility despite learning of potential problems months before the shortage occurred.

Last fall, the FDA began zeroing in on the Abbott facility in Michigan while tracking several bacterial infections in infants who had consumed formula manufactured by the company. The four cases the FDA was tracking occurred between this past September and January, two of the infants died, and others were hospitalized.

The FDA was scheduled to begin inspecting the plant late last December, but, according to Abbott, about a dozen employees had tested positive for COVID-19, and the company subsequently requested to reschedule the FDA's investigation. Because of this, the FDA was unable to begin its inspection until the end of January.

The FDA is still unable to reach a conclusion as to whether the bacteria found in the plant is what caused the infant infections. Abbott claims that there is no direct evidence linking its products to the illnesses and deaths.

Abbott’s Vice President Christopher Calamari apologized to lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives while he was being questioned on Wednesday, but he stopped short of directly answering whether employees were terminated or otherwise disciplined for problems found at the Michigan facility including standing water, a leaky roof, and damaged equipment.

COVID-19 lockdowns in Shanghai continue as stores are forced to close and residents in the city's financial district are ordered to stay home



The COVID-19 pandemic may have mostly wound down in the U.S., but in China, it appears to be raging once more as the city of Shanghai, a crucial part of China’s financial apparatus, is requiring supermarkets and shops to shut down and ordering residents to stay home until at least Tuesday.

Reuters reported. that Shanghai’s central Jingan district, which plays a crucial role in the financialization of the Chinese economy, is forcing these new restrictions while also planning to carry out mass covid testing into the first half of the next week.

Exit permits given to residents in the region, which allow people to leave their homes, will be suspended. The local district government did not provide an explanation for the passes' suspension.

This is just the latest development in Shanghai’s renewed war on COVID-19.

In late March, Shanghai — which is China’s largest city — began a phased lockdown as it grappled with a massive surge in cases of the Omicron variant. It was reported that at the time, China was seeing case numbers that it had not experienced since the early days of the pandemic.

The initial Shanghai lockdown involved closing down the eastern side of the city, as determined by being to the east of the Huangpu River, for about a week and then subsequently locking down the western side of the city for a similar length of time.

Along with the lockdowns, the local Communist Party apparatus announced a sophisticated testing regiment to regulate the health of its residents.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said, at the time, that the Chinese Communist Party’s goal was to “minimize the impact” of the virus on the economy as authorities work to uphold the country’s extremely aggressive “zero-COVID policy.”

However, the Shanghai lockdowns not only caused disruptions in the local and national economy of China but have reverberated across the globe and worsened preexisting economic conditions. For instance, CNN reported that the port of Shanghai is the world’s busiest port for shipping container traffic. Shanghai is also a major aviation hub. The recent covid lockdowns have made port delays worse and caused the price of air freight to soar thus greatly exacerbating the ongoing supply chain crisis across the globe.

During the early stages of the lockdown, food orders were being canceled because delivery drivers and suppliers could not meet the demand of Shanghai residents and food delivery services, and people in government-run quarantine facilities were given folk remedies in lieu of medicine due to the limited supply of resources.

Guest on 'The View' dares to blame Biden for inflation crisis, record-high gas. Whoopi swiftly blames others.



"The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg kowtowed to President Joe Biden on Wednesday when a guest dared to blame him for the ongoing crises in the United States.

What happened?

During a segment bashing Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) and former President Donald Trump, guest Stephanie Grisham, a key player in the Trump administration, noted what the majority of Americans believe.

"I want to say this, though, the country’s not doing well," Grisham observed.

"So I think that Biden does need to get some stuff in order. We have got high gas prices. We do have inflation," she continued as Goldberg tried to interrupt. "Come to the Midwest. I invite anybody to come to the Midwest, where farmers can’t afford fertilizer, they can’t afford fuel. People really are suffering at the grocery store. There are a lot of things going on that I think could affect the polls."

Goldberg immediately seized on Grisham's accusation. According to Goldberg — whose net worth is estimated to be $60 million or more — "we're all suffering."

"And I would say this to you: Go to New Jersey. Go to upstate New York. Go anywhere in the state of New York. Go to the state of New Jersey. Go anywhere in the states. We’re all suffering!" Goldberg claimed.

Rep. Madison Cawthorn Concedes in NC Primary | The View youtu.be

Goldberg then defended Biden from the economic problems facing Americans right now, such as record-high gas prices.

"I'll tell you, everybody is suffering. But let’s place it in the places that it belongs. OK?" she said. "Gas prices aren’t bad because of anything Biden did. It’s just what he’s going to absorb."

Sunny Hostin added to the defense, "There’s also a war going on in Ukraine." Goldberg agreed, "There’s a war going on, and everybody said, this is what we got to do. So we’re in the middle of it."

And the baby formula shortage? Goldberg claimed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is responsible, though she did not cite evidence to support her allegation.

"People want baby food, baby stuff. That is also not on him. That’s on Abbott," Goldberg claimed. "But I noticed when people talk about these things, specifically what you were just saying, nobody ever says, here’s the cause of this, and here’s how we have to fight this."

Anything else?

Grisham is right. Americans believe the U.S. is heading in the wrong direction, which explains dismal polling for Democrats.

Biden's favorability is under water by an average of 13 points, according to RealClearPolitics, and all signs point toward a red tsunami this November, especially if Biden and Democrats continue to abdicate responsibility for the problems ailing Americans.

The Biden administration knew a baby formula shortage was coming as early as last February



The Biden administration knew there would be a shortage of baby formula as early as February.

The Daily Caller reported that Brian Deese, the director of the National Ecnomic Council, told CNN’s “New Day” that the administration is working around the clock to “tackle the issue from every angle possible.”

Deese noted that the administration is trying to give retailers “more flexibility on the types of formulas that they can sell,” but he did not give an estimate of how long the administration anticipates the formula shortage to last.

Deese urged families to contact their healthcare providers if they are in need of immediate assistance.

The host of “New Day,” Kaitlan Collins, asked Deese how he would respond to Republicans who are critical of the administration for not acting fast enough to solve the shortage, to which Deese said that the Biden administration has been addressing the issue “from the get-go.”

He said, “The administration has been on this from the get-go. A lot of this emanated from a plant in Michigan that was producing formula that didn’t meet safety standards.”

When Collins asked Deese when the Biden administration first became aware of the shortage, Deese said that the administration became aware of the impending shortage “when the FDA had to take its action back in February.”

He said, “As a parent, and with friends and colleagues, we were aware that people were starting to have trouble in stores, but we were aware of this from when the FDA had to take its action back in February, with Abbott and with the steps in the Michigan facility. And we have had a team on this from the FDA and in the interagency process since then.”

Collins responded by asking whether the FDA moved fast enough on the issue, she inquired, “So I’m wondering if the sense inside the White House is that the FDA moved quickly enough on this issue?”

On this, Deese said, “Well, those are independent scientific judgments that I will leave to the FDA. What I can tell you is that they took action to put in place that recall, and we have been working closely on this issue, in the wake of that recall, to try to address the impending impacts of that.”

On Thursday, Kat Cammack, a Republican Congresswoman from Florida, lambasted the federal government for sending “pallets” of baby formula to an illegal immigrant detention center in Texas while American families are unable to find the product on shelves.