CONNECTICUT, USA — The first of several shipments of specialty infant formula arrived to the U.S. from Europe over the weekend, Sunday.
78,000 pounds of formula touched down in Indiana, which is expected to be enough for more than half a million bottles.
We reached out to the Department of Public Health, the Governor’s office, the national guard, and lawmakers to find out if any of this shipment will be going to Connecticut.
RELATED: Pediatricians speak on baby formula shortage
FOX61 is told DPH hasn’t received any updates on shipments and lawmakers haven’t heard yet where the formula delivered in Indiana is especially going.
For now, families we spoke with tonight are trying store after store and utilizing social media just to get by.
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“6 months ago, the shelves were full; now, we’re lucky if we find one can, honestly,” Larry Rivera from Coventry said. “I hope we get it together because this is a hard time and these little ones, they need to eat.”
The shipment to Indianapolis is the first of several flights expected to help with the shortage.
“I don’t know of any coming to Connecticut, but they will be distributed wherever they arrive, hopefully to stores in Connecticut,” US Senator Richard Blumenthal said. “If they arrive in Indiana, as the shipments did over the weekend, some of them ought to be put online so they’re available to everyone.”
He and other stakeholders are pushing for the United States Department of Agriculture to allow recipients of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, also known as WIC, to buy formula online, where they are currently unable to use their benefits.
“Some children will get severely ill if they get a formula that is not appropriate for them and those are the vulnerable ones that we have to actually have a strategy for and make sure that they are made the priority,” State Senator Saud Anwar said.
According to the Biden Administration, a second flight is expected to bring formula from Germany to Virginia, which will then go to a Nestle facility in Pennsylvania.
Elisha Machado is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at emachado@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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