NPR: U.S. May Get More Ventilators But Run Out Of Medicine For COVID-19 Patients
[link:https://www.npr.org/2020/04/04/826961777/u-s-may-get-more-ventilators-but-run-out-of-medicine-for-covid-19-patients|
This week, Vizient released data showing dramatic spikes in demand for sedatives, pain medications, paralytics and other drugs that are crucial for patients who are on ventilators. According to Vizient's study, the rate at which those orders are filled is lagging far behind the demand.
"We're not at a rate yet where there's just no drug," Kistner says, "but we are quickly approaching it."
One complicating factor: "Injectable drugs take a long time to make," Kistner says. "For instance, there's a 21-day sterility period needed for all injectable drugs. So it's not something simple that you can do overnight."
If you ramp up production of ventilators but don't also get a jump on producing the necessary drugs, Kistner says, you have a problem: "We're gonna build all these cars, but if we don't have the gas, they can't go anywhere."
