Over the past year, most industries have been affected by supply chain disruptions as a result of the pandemic. Yesterday AdvaMed President and CEO Scott Whitaker called attention to the “ongoing transport and logistics crisis” in a letter to President Biden, and requested that the Administration find solutions to prioritize the transportation of medical supplies and equipment.

“As the deadline for the Administration’s Sustainable Public Health Supply Chain report nears, we would like to draw your attention to the increasingly challenging transport situation that has impeded our companies’ ability to deliver healthcare products while also significantly driving up costs. As you well know, the challenges at major U.S. and international ports—including container shortages, limited unloading space and insufficient trucking capacity—continues as purchasing behavior in this country has dramatically shifted during the pandemic,” Whitaker stated in the letter. “While we appreciate that multiple industries are affected by these disruptions, we believe the implications for the healthcare system and patient care are imperative as we head into the fall, which brings with it flu season and uncertainty surrounding Covid-19 variants in unvaccinated populations.”

At the start of the pandemic, AdvaMed member companies donated nearly $27 million in medical products to aid China. Throughout the course of the crisis, AdvaMed used its Diagnostic Supply Registry to track shipments of COVID-19 molecular tests, which reached an all-time high of 1 million per week by late July.