Lancaster County, South Carolina to Vote on Unprecedented Initiative for Life-Saving Medical Products Manufacturers

“The Trump Administration has made bringing back manufacturing operations to the America a top priority and that effort has been quite successful. One area; however, that is still very much in need of reshoring is life-saving medical products manufacturing. Both the Coronavirus and Hurricane Maria in 2017 caused severe shortages of some of most important life-saving medical products including surgical masks and IV bags. The fact that these products are manufactured in locations outside the United States that experienced catastrophic events was the primary reason for the supply chain disruption. The limited number, and in some cases total absence, of domestic life-saving medical products manufacturers here in the U.S. makes it nearly impossible to meet increased demands in the event of a national emergency. Many of our life-saving drugs are produced outside the U.S. and that presents a scenario where they can be withheld for political or trade reasons by the countries where they are based. That is unacceptable and inhumane. Production of life-saving medical products that Americans depend on must be in the United States. Lancaster County is willing to do our part to make that happen”, said Gilbert.

“Lancaster County believes we have a civic and patriotic duty to do what we can to address the life-saving medical products supply issue. It’s the right thing to do. We hope that adopting this resolution will lead to other communities following suit. Like World War II, where America harnessed the resources of the private and pubic sectors and took an all hands-on deck approach to winning the war, we hope our action leads to others doing the same as it will take a national effort. The production of life-saving medical products that Americans depend on needs to be done here and Lancaster County wants to get the ball rolling.”