According to the United States Military, a military plane carrying more than half a million baby bottles of specialty infant formula just arrived on Sunday in Indianapolis.
The plane landing was said to have relieved a major shortage in the area that put many parents in the position of desperately searching to find enough food to feed their babies.
Authorities said it was the first flight of several flights that are expected to come from Europe. They added that President Joe Biden authorized the use of the U.S. Air Force planes to carry the formula, calling the mission, “Operation Fly Formula.”
We’re working to make sure safe baby formula gets to all who need it by:
– Invoking the Defense Production Act to increase domestic production
– Launching Operation Fly Formula to use federal planes to fly formula in from abroad— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 19, 2022
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One, as Biden was flying from South Korea to Japan, that the military plane was carrying a total of 78,000 pounds (35,380 kilograms) of formula when it landed.
Folks, I’m excited to tell you that the first flight from Operation Fly Formula is loaded up with more than 70,000 pounds of infant formula and about to land in Indiana.
Our team is working around the clock to get safe formula to everyone who needs it. pic.twitter.com/cX4KU0eDtZ
— President Biden (@POTUS) May 22, 2022
Director of the White House National Economic Council, Brian Deese, said on Sunday that the shipments are intended to provide some incremental relief over the next few days while they work on a long-term solution.
Fox 17 reported Deese saying, “that Sunday’s flight brought 15% of the specialty medical grade formula needed in the U.S., and because of various actions by the government, people should see more formula in stores starting as early as this week.”
Today I signed the Access to Baby Formula Act of 2022. This allows for certain program requirements in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children to be waived so people can more easily access the infant formula that they need.
— President Biden (@POTUS) May 21, 2022
The White House said that 132 pallets of Nestle Health Science Alfamino Infant and Alfamino Junior formula are expected to leave Ramstein Air Base in Germany for the U.S. within the coming days.
On top of that, another 114 pallets of Gerber Good Start Extensive HA formula are expected to arrive soon as well. All those pallets combined will equal about 1.5 million 8-ounce bottles of the three formulas. Each formula is hypoallergenic for children with cow’s milk protein allergies.