Wasserman Schultz on PPE Shortages at VA

Washington, April 9, 2020
Health care workers in Veterans Administration hospitals are being forced to limit patient contact, ration and re-use masks and are even being advised that some frontline health care workers don’t need to utilize PPEs. These self-described ‘austerity measures’ are due to personal protective equipment shortages resulting from the Trump Administration’s stubborn and irresponsible refusal to direct national supply chains and fully utilize the Defense Production Act.

Washington DC – U.S. Rep Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23) chairs the House Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee. She released the following statement after reports of widespread shortages and rationing of personal protective equipment in VA hospitals:

“Health care workers in Veterans Administration hospitals are being forced to limit patient contact, ration and re-use masks and are even being advised that some frontline health care workers don’t need to utilize PPEs. These self-described ‘austerity measures’ are due to personal protective equipment shortages resulting from the Trump Administration’s stubborn and irresponsible refusal to direct national supply chains and fully utilize the Defense Production Act. VA leadership should sound the alarm and demand immediate action from the White House before more brave health care workers and the veterans they serve are needlessly endangered by this COVID-19 pandemic. Supplies are inadequate, and federal agencies like VA are now left to fight through a savage market struggle with states for protective equipment that only the federal government can efficiently mediate and allocate to optimize safety. The men and women who sacrificed for this nation – and the health workers they rely upon - deserve far better than this.”