Story at a glance
- The ventilators will be delivered to the Strategic National Stockpile by the end of August.
- More than 6,000 will be delivered by June 1.
- GM has partnered with Ventec Life Systems to mass produce the ventilators at a GM plant in Indiana.
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General Motors (GM) has signed a nearly $490 million deal with the federal government to provide 30,000 ventilators amid the coronavirus pandemic under the Defense Production Act, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said Wednesday.
The agency says the ventilators will be delivered to the Strategic National Stockpile by the end of August, with a production schedule allowing for the delivery of more than 6,000 ventilators by June 1.
“We’re grateful to the GM team for working with the federal government to expand our nation’s supply of ventilators as the pandemic evolves,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement.
GM has partnered with Ventec Life Systems to mass produce the ventilators at a GM plant in Indiana.
“GM is proud to deploy its purchasing and manufacturing capability alongside the respiratory care expertise of Ventect,” GM said in a statement.
This comes as automakers in the U.S. have moved to change their production lines into ventilator factories. Ford announced last month it is partnering with GE Healthcare to manufacture 50,000 ventilators over 100 days starting April 20.
GM won’t take profit from the production of the ventilators as the contract covers the cost to produce the machines.
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President Trump on March 27 invoked the Defense Production Act, a law that allows the federal government to force companies to build needed supplies during an emergency, and ordered GM to start building ventilators. GM had already begun its effort, prompted by a nonprofit called “Stop the Spread.”
While GM is scheduled to deliver more than 6,000 ventilators by the beginning of June, it’s not clear if the ventilators will arrive by the peak of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. While it’s unclear when the peak will occur nationally, a popular model out of the University of Washington predicts hospital utilization will peak in the coming days and decline rapidly by the end of May. Other models predict hospital utilization in some states won’t peak until June.
The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation said resource use in the U.S. will peak on April 11, resulting in a need for 16,524 invasive ventilators to support the treatment of coronavirus patients across the country.
Hospitals in the U.S., particularly in New York City, have been scrambling to secure enough ventilators to treat the most severe cases of COVID-19.
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