Over the course of the pandemic, the marketplace for vetted, medical-grade PPE has been very difficult to navigate, particularly for small and underserved communities with smaller procurement budgets. Counterfeit PPE and price gouging have been rife as demand surged past need, so much so that the Department of Justice announced the formation of a COVID-19 Fraud Task Force in May 2021.
PPE supply chains begin to ease as COVID-19 cases decline; however, virus variants and inequitable access to PPE and vaccines continue to threaten a full recovery.
As an emergency physician faced with the rapidly-spreading coronavirus and dwindling supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE), Dr. Megan Ranney who is co-founder of Get Us PPE and Medical Analyst for CNN, rapidly built a grassroots, volunteer-led movement that has delivered millions of PPE units to those who need it most.