Gov. Prizker called again today for the federal activation of the Defense Production Act to increase the production of essential medical supplies and their distribution to states in need.
Illinois has only received a fraction of what has been requested from the National Strategic Stockpile. In many cases receiving 0% of PPE equipment that was requested. Below is a total of Illinois’ request vs. received items to date.
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In the last few weeks, Illinois has only received a fraction of what has been requested from the National Strategic Stockpile. The table below illustrates the gap between the state’s requests and shipments from the federal government for each type of Personal Protective Equipment:
| Request from State of Illinois Requested Mar. 6 and 20 | Received from Federal Government Received Mar. 12 and 22 | % Received | |
| N95 Masks | 2,340,000 | 246,860 | 10.5% |
| Surgical Masks | 900,000 | 91,298 | 10.1% |
| Gloves | 7,400,000 | 325,082 | 4.4% |
| Gowns | 924,000 | 91,298 | 9.9% |
| Goggles | 47,500 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Face shields | 120,000 | 111,978 | 93.3% |
| Respirators | 4,000 | 0 | 0.0% |
The Act was originally designed and enacted on September 8, 1950 in response to the start of the Korean War. It’s goal was to broaden civil defense and war mobilization throughout the United States during the Cold War.
By enacting the Act, it could allow the White House to:
- Give government orders top priority — so when there aren’t enough gloves to go around, for instance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gets its gloves first.
- Distribute limited resources according to national interests. For instance, the government decides how many gloves go to each state.
- Order manufacturers to produce a certain item and take control of the supply chain to enable maximum production of that product.
The President says he doesn’t want to evoke the act, comparing the Defense Production Act to nationalizations in Venezuela. If enacted, Health and Human Services could immediately step in to manage the distribution of existing resources and production needs throughout the United States.
