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In scrambling to buy protective equipment for the coronavirus pandemic, federal agencies purchased up to $11 million worth of Chinese-made masks, often with little attention to manufacturing details or rapidly evolving regulatory guidance about safety or quality, a ProPublica review shows.
Some agencies cannot say who made their masks at a time when thousands of foreign-made respirators appeared on the market, some falsely claiming approval or certification by the Food and Drug Administration. Some agencies bought the masks, known as KN95s, from companies that share a U.S. representative with another firm recently accused of fraud by the Justice Department.
The contracts reflect the intense pressure federal agencies were under to procure protective equipment as the pandemic surfaced and rapidly spread in the U.S. Now, some experts worry that the products could remain in circulation long past the crisis and be used by unsuspecting federal employees who believe they have legitimate respirator masks.
Agencies have relaxed procurement standards, including granting many contracts without competitive bidding, and have been tripped up by shifting FDA standards, the flood of foreign companies entering the U.S. market and a limited domestic supply of respirators made for medical use.
“I’m so glad we didn’t get involved in this KN95 market,” said Andy Mitchell, a vice president at Mallory Safety and Supply, which supplies N95 masks. “This isn’t right what’s happening here.”
ProPublica reported last month that the Indian Health Service had purchased $3 million of Chinese-made respirator masks from a company started by a former White H ..
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