Gov. Andy Beshear wants multinational company 3M to release its patent for the N95 respirator — a desperately needed type of protective gear that’s difficult to get during the coronavirus pandemic — so that more manufacturers can start making it.
Written by Morgan Watkins of the Courier-Journal
Beshear spoke pointedly about 3M Wednesday evening as he described the challenges of obtaining personal protective equipment like N95s, surgical masks, gowns and gloves. These supplies, called “PPE” for short, protect doctors, nurses and other health care workers from COVID-19 as they treat patients.
The N95 is considered top-of-the-line face protection for the professionals on the front lines of this pandemic, but Beshear said it’s been especially hard to procure.
“The procurement is incredibly difficult, as is the manufacture, because it’s under patent. I’d like to see the people with that patent, which is 3M, provide that to the nation under a license for this period of time,” the governor said.
“I believe it’s their patriotic duty, and they should put it out there so everybody else can manufacture it,” he said of 3M. “That hasn’t happened.”
(Cross-posted via the Kentucky Press News Service. Read the rest of the article at the Courier-Journal.)
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