White House says Biden has been working on baby formula shortage 'for some time now'

Departing White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki reassured reporters on Thursday that President Joe Biden has been on top of solving the baby formula shortage.

"So what we’re doing here at this point in time is working with other manufacturers who can produce safe baby formula, and we’ve had success in increasing our productivity, their productivity over the last four weeks, and we’re going to continue to work on that," Psaki said.

Psaki also noted that "this is something that the administration has been working on for some time now."

At one point Jen Psaki recommended that parents who can’t find baby formula should call their doctor.

"When was the first time the President was briefed on the shortage?" asked one reporter. "I’m not going to get into internal briefings, he’s been made aware of it through the process." replied Psaki.

Psaki noted that an FDA recall of Similac, Alimentum and EleCare powdered infant formulas produced in Sturgis, Michigan is part of the "reason we're here."

"I think it's also important to note that the reason we're here is because the FDA took a step to ensure that babies were taking safe formula," said Psaki.

She added that the shortage has been exasperated by hoarding both by parents and resellers.

"Well, we've already seen an increase in supply over the past couple of weeks. What we are seeing, which is an enormous problem, is hoarding, people hoarding because they're fearful. That is one element of it, and people hoarding because they are trying to profit off of fearful parents, so that is also something we're focused on," said Psaki.

Recent data has shown that 40 to 50 percent of baby formula has been out of stock in the past week in at least 26 states. The hardest hit states were places like Iowa, Missouri, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas.

According to Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida, much of the supplies sent to illegal immigrants at the southern border includes "shelves and pallets packed with baby formula," while American store shelves remain barren.