WASHINGTON – Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema joined a group of her colleagues on a letter to the Vice President raising concerns about the federal government’s current distribution process of critical medical supplies during the coronavirus outbreak.
“The federal government must immediately provide our front-line health care workers and first responders the personal protection equipment needed to care for Arizonans during the coronavirus outbreak,” said Sinema.
Sinema and a group of her Senate colleagues expressed concern that, without sufficient oversight, the federal government’s strategy for distributing medical supplies is vulnerable to waste, fraud, and abuse. Currently, only half of the supplies procured by the federal government are distributed to areas considered to be “hotspots” or “emerging hotspots” like Arizona by medical experts, with the other half left to commercial distributors to deliver wherever they choose. Sinema requested detailed information on how private distributors are allocating medical supplies to Coronavirus hotspots through programs like “Project Airbridge,” and how the Administration is using its authorities under the Defense Production Act to guide distribution efforts. Sinema has been working with health care providers and private manufacturers to help address the current shortage of personal protective equipment in Arizona that has hampered increased testing efforts and left front-line workers at risk.
Sinema has also added a resources page to her website, www.sinema.senate.gov/corona, for Arizonans looking for the latest information on coronavirus.
