secured from europe. u.s. troops packed it up for a flight to the united states using a military plane to transport formula. just one of the latest and extreme and unusual measures by the white house in response to this crisis, which critics say the u.s. government should have seen coming much sooner. the fda is coming under fire for the four-month lag after a whistle-blower complaint of problems at a plant of formula maker abbott. those are extraordinary image. the shutdown of that facility exacerbated the shortage, and just this morning while in asia president biden signed a new bill into law to help deal with the lack of supply. last week 45% of formula products nationwide were out of stock, nearly half. the new law allows a waver of some requirements in the federal nutrition program to help expand access to formula. cnn s senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen at ramstein air base in germany tracking the supply headed to the u.s. i m asking the questions to parent
ramstein air base in germany tracking the supply headed to the u.s. i m asking the questions to parents, you know, what they want to know. you know, when is the formula going to be reaching the u.s.? the formula will be reaching the u.s. tomorrow. it is being flown to indiana. what you re seeing is what will end up in indiana. 14 of these huge pallets will be loaded up on a plane and flown out tomorrow. here they fly things out all the time. but talking to the staff here they actually were kind of emotional about it. they said this time we re flying in really liquid gold to help babies, to help save babies in the united states. so let s take a look at what this is. it s nestle, a product for babies who havelergys. it really can be drunk by other babies as well, but it s a hype
because i think all parents of children up to 1 who rely on formula are really worried right now. and this is most important for the children who are under 6 months, and even those who are breast-feeding most of them rely on formula to some degree, and so here s what i would ask, that if you have a child who is six months or up, try to get more of their nutrition from food. you can blend anything up, you can get lots of nutrients that way. they can be less reliant on form formula. and the american academy of pediatrics says go ahead temporarily and use cows milk. that will free up more formula for infants under 6 months old who really don t have any other choice. in the meantime, you know, shipping this formula from overseas will fill in those gaps. this is the united states of america and this should not be
happening. it s fascinating to see shelves empty here in the united states while they re full in mexico and canada. i m wondering what else you think needs to be done to prevent something like this from happening again? that s right. i was in my local grocery store and saw empty shelves for many of the formulasch to make sure this doesn t happen again i referred to an early warning system. we need to have some formula in our strategic national stockpile. that just makes sense. imagine what would happen in a national emergency without that formula? and the other thing is having that early warning system so if something like this happens like in sturgis, michigan, i mean remember 40% of similar formula was made in that one factory. 98% of formula is made right here in the united states. we need to have for example who s stepping up now, the fda should have encouraged that, the
allergenic formula needed in the united states. really you don t find imported formula very much in the united states. there s a reason for that. we were always able to take care of our own. we didn t need to, you know, be saved by other countries. that s unfortunately what the situation is right now. so this is 1,500,008-ounce bottles. it is a great thing, but it is not going to change this situation. it s not going to all of a sudden make formula plentiful in the u.s. there are lots of things that are being done, for example, the second largest maker of formula, they ve ratcheted up their production by 35%, but still we have the shortage. it s probably going to be many weeks until parents see full