A CNN investigation recently found that "tens of millions of counterfeit and second-hand nitrile gloves" have entered the United States amid the pandemic. 

Although CNN claimed that sources are still investigating exactly where the gloves went and how serious the consequences are, this shocking news once again reminds people of one thing – that today, the supply chain of personal protective equipment (PPE) remains problematic, and Americans are still suffering as a result.

What factors have contributed to this continuing predicament? And how did Biden's government respond?

Huge demand leads to a rush for 'help'

Nitrile gloves are widely used in hospitals and other facilities to examine patients, which means the demand is huge and urgent. Unfortunately, as the pandemic has hit the entire supply chain, America is facing dangerous shortages of nitrile gloves.

Get Us PPE is a U.S. non-profit organization that hands out PPE to people who request it. Their data shows that the type of PPE Americans once lacked most was masks but, by June 2021, the demand for nitrile gloves had leaped up to second place. 

While Americans requested nearly 30 million pairs of nitrile gloves through Get Us PPE by July 2, 2021, only about 80,000 pairs have been successfully delivered. And among those who asked for help, 64 percent estimated that their remaining nitrile gloves would run out in less than seven days.

Until now, a variety of medical gloves, including nitrile gloves, are still on the list of medical device shortages issued by the FDA. It declares there is "limited supply available" and says there is a "demand increase for the device." Given that the shortage of PPE in the U.S. is not limited to nitrile gloves, incidents such as the influx of used gloves from Thailand reported by CNN are likely to occur with other equipment imports.

Why has the U.S. suffered from such a PPE shortage for so long? The responsibility for this may lie in the nation's reliance on imports.

Reliance on imports fails to counter risks

America relies heavily on imports for PPE supplies.

A report released by the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) has confirmed this, saying that "imports supply an estimated 80 to 90 percent of the U.S. PPE market directed toward healthcare applications." And much of this production that America depends on occurs in Asia, according to the Asian Development Bank's report.

However, because of the outbreak of COVID-19, countries worldwide rushed to buy PPE, right at the time that the global manufacturing industry was facing a crisis of shutdowns and productivity loss.

At this critical moment, countries such as China were able to rely on domestic manufacturing to tide them over, while it was at this point that America realized its dependence on imports had become a ticking time bomb, and the pandemic detonated it.

Will the Biden administration be able to fix it?

The Biden administration have taken notice of this issue.

Back in February, the administration said the federal government would use the Defense Production Act to help build plants and factories to enhance domestic manufacturing of gloves. They set the goal of producing more than 1 billion gloves a month and satisfying about half of all American healthcare demands by the end of the year. 

It remains to be seen whether this plan can be achieved, but will this kind of government intervention really work in the long term in the American marketplace?

According to the USITC's report, healthcare facilities in the U.S. are highly cost-sensitive customers. Over the years, American healthcare providers have sought to partner with the lowest-priced PPE suppliers. And that's why Asia has become a major source – as labor costs there are lower.

The higher production cost makes anything "Made in USA" naturally less competitive in the PPE market, which is the exact crux of the matter. So even if companies are encouraged by the Biden administration's emergency grants to join this business, they might find it hard to stay there.

Will the Biden administration make significant efforts to offset this fundamental weakness? Manufacturers are pessimistic and urging Washington to take action. Some organizations are lobbying for law changes, as they know this probably is the only way to secure these life-saving supplies if another pandemic occurs.