Several companies, including General Electric and Medtronic, have begun deliveries of thousands of new ventilators to the Strategic National Stockpile, The Wall Street Journal reported.
So far, HHS has received more than 4,200 new ventilators for the national stockpile, an agency spokesperson told the Journal.
HHS signed more than $2.9 billion worth of contracts in April under the Defense Production Act to buy about 190,000 new ventilators by the end of 2020.
Demand for ventilators turned out to be less than anticipated, but demand may rise as stay-at-home orders are eased, elective surgeries resume and as flu season begins in the fall, according to the Journal.
"We do want to make sure we have an adequate supply for future new waves or recurrences of the disease, without having to do all the improvising that was done in the last couple months," Eric Toner, a senior scholar with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told the Journal.
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