this is not business as usual and shows how dire the situation has become. some families have turned to hospitals to help feed their children and that includes four babies in south carolina who could not tolerate other formulas when their usual product sold out. one estimate says at least 45% of formula products were sold out last week nationwide and hoarding is only making things worse. one woman in massachusetts filled a shopping cart full of baby formula and was confronted by another shopper. take a look. look at this. look at all this. i need it for my baby. look at the shelves. you don t think i need it for my baby, too. you take all the formula off the shelf. you come after me. i don t know you get this one. i m saying this is the whole reason there s a formula shortage. you come and buy all the formula at once and there are kids who need formula today who won t be able to get it because you just bought it to stock up. we ve got to work together on this. y
this is a hypoallergenic formula. a lot of children with allergies are having trouble getting the formula they need. bittersweetness here. it s sweet that the service members were able to do this and this formula is on their way to american families. the bitter part is how did we get in this situation where europe needs to be helping america feed its own babies. there will be many, many questions about this in the days and weeks and months to come. to be clear-eyed about this, 1.5 million bottles, it is a lot, but there are millions of babies in the united states. this will not turn things around when it arrives in indiana. it s one of many steps being taken. parents aren t going to see full shelves tomorrow or the next day or the next day. this shortage could go on for a while. hopefully it will get better soon but won t be turned around for many weeks to come. jim? all right, elizabeth.
we ve got to work together on this. you can t hoard it and put it in your basement at home. that s not going to work. cnn s elizabeth cohen joins me from ramstein air base in f germany. reporter: i ve been watching service membersality ramstein air force base put together these pallets, 1.5 million 8-ounce bottles of formula heading to indiana, also arriving tomorrow. talking to the service members, they re really touched by the work they re doing. they say they ship things and people all the time, that s what they do. they said this feels different. they re sending infant formula back to babies in their home country, back to the united states, and they said this feels very different. they really feel like they re helping babies back in their own country. let s take a look at the product that s being shipped back. you can see it says nestle here.