The White House today announced that United Airlines will be the first major airline to contribute to efforts to solve the nation's worsening baby formula shortage by donating flights to import shipments of formula from abroad.
United's promised pro-bono flights are part of the White House's "Operation Fly Formula" initiative, which President Joe Biden created in mid-May to help address the nationwide out-of-stock formula crisis.
The program, "directs the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture to utilize the Defense Department's commercial planes to import formula from abroad," according to a recent CNN report. But, with the coast-to-coast crisis intensifying, more assistance is needed.
"United Airlines has agreed to transport Kendamil formula free of charge from Heathrow Airport in London to multiple airports across the country over a three-week period. These are the first Operation Formula Flight to be donated by an airline carrier," the White House said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
Kendamil is an infant formula made by U.K.-based manufacturer Kendal Nutricare, which has promised to export two million cans of the product to the U.S. to help fill the formula deficit.
United has signed up to fly more than 300,000 pounds of Kendamil infant formula from the U.K. on behalf of the federal government, beginning June 9. The White House said in yesterday's statement that these products will, "be distributed and available for purchase at selected U.S. retailers nationwide, as well as online," according to CNN.
The White House did not provide information on exactly when or where the first shipment of imported infant formula would be available, except to say that consumers can expect to see the products at Target stores around the country "in the coming weeks".
Also on Wednesday, President Biden, along with Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, met with global baby formula manufacturers for a roundtable discussion to "receive updates on their progress in ramping up the supply of formula in the U.S.", a White House official said.
Representatives from manufacturers Gerber, Reckitt, Perrigo, Bubs Australia and ByHeart were in attendance at Wednesday's meeting. According to NBC News, the government will also fly infant formula from Australia to Philadelphia on June 9 and to California on June 11. So far, the equivalent of 1.5 million eight-ounce bottles of baby formula has been imported to the U.S. through the Operation Fly Formula program.
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