Commentary: After Decades of Outsourcing to China, the U.S. is Running Out of Children’s Antibiotics

Acute shortages of orally delivered amoxicillin, penicillin and other children’s antibiotics throughout the 2022 and 2023 cold and flu season have made it difficult for doctors to treat normal childhood illnesses like ear infections, bronchitis, strep throat and rarer cases of infections caused after suffering Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and also sickle cell disease—for months.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning about the amoxicillin shortage in Oct. 2022 just at the start of the cold and flu season. But since then, no statement has been issued by President Joe Biden about what appears to be an underreported public health crisis.

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Georgia Department of Community Health Says COVID-19 Justified No-Bid Contract

Georgia officials rewarded an Alpharetta-based medical company with a generous no-bid contract and cited a provision in state law that allowed them to do so during emergencies — in this case, COVID-19. Jackson Healthcare provides medical staff to several of Georgia’s hospitals and nursing homes through its subsidiary Healthcare Workforce Logistics (HWL). Company CEO Rick Jackson donated generously to Georgia’s top politicians, including Gov. Brian Kemp, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Jackson’s company subsequently received a $434 million no-bid contract. Company officials said politics “had absolutely nothing to do with it.”

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Georgia Campaign Donor Says Politics Did Not Influence Generous No-Bid COVID-19 Contract

Richard L. Jackson

The president of an Alpharetta-based medical company whose CEO donated generously to Georgia’s top politicians and subsequently received a $434 million no-bid contract said Tuesday that politics “had absolutely nothing to do with it.” Rick Jackson, the CEO of Jackson Healthcare, donated roughly $1 million to various statewide political candidates. Jackson donated to, among others, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

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