(NewsNation) — “It’s just so scary to think … I might not be able to feed my kid next week, because there’s no product on the shelf,” Bailey Brunner, a mom in search of formula, said on NewsNation’s “Rush Hour” Monday.
Brunner is desperate as she searches for the formula to feed her 8-month-old-son.
“I go grocery shopping, my husband and I. He goes once, I go once, and we have not been able to find our kind of formula that our son uses for well over a month now,” Brunner said.
She is one of countless parents across the country heading to stores and finding empty shelves of baby formula.
The shortage has gotten so bad, it’s led to government intervention:
The Biden administration is now offering formula manufacturers and retailers transportation and logistics support to help ease the shortage — a follow-up from last week, when the U.S. government announced several steps it was taking to provide relief.
The government has had to cut through red tape to get formula on shelves more quickly, cracking down on price gouging and increasing supply by expediting imports.
“This is a process; we’re working on it very very hard. There’s nothing more urgent we’re working on than that right now,” President Joe Biden told reporters Friday.
The shortage of baby formula nationwide was sparked by a recall earlier this year as well as the closing of Abbott nutrition’s plant in Michigan, which is one of just four companies that produces roughly 90% of U.S. formula.
On Monday, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf said publicly in an interview with NBC News that it’s “quite likely” the company will reopen its shuttered plant within the next two weeks.
In the meantime, parents across the country are getting creative.
Many like Brunner, have posting on social media for help feeding their babies.
“I made a post on Facebook yesterday just asking my friends in Montana if they see any to let me know and I’ll pay them whatever it costs for shipping if they just happen to come across it,” she said.
In that public interview with NBA News, the FDA commissioner also said the agency will investigate why it took so long to get inspectors to the Abbott nutrition plant.
But, again, he said it is quite likely it will reopen within weeks, with the aim of easing the burden on these desperate families.