Industry giant 3M is working around the clock with the police to stop the sale of millions of counterfeit versions of its N95 mask.
“We have taken very strong steps to address the issues of counterfeiting or discounting prices. And that has happened over the past year in this limited supply and very strong demand environment for critical products like the N95,” Mike Vale, who leads 3M’s safety and industrial business group, told CNBC.
N95s were the gold standard during the coronavirus pandemic due to their ability to filter at least 95% of airborne particles. The masks, considered critical to protecting frontline workers from Covid-19, were scarce. 3M is the largest N95 manufacturer.
Federal authorities announced on Wednesday that scammers have distributed millions of fake N95s to health workers in at least five states. To date, 11,000 cases of fake masks have been reported by 3M, leading to 29 civil lawsuits. In total, the company said it seized 10 million fake N95s. In mid-January, 3M helped its home state of Minnesota prevent it from buying nearly 500,000 counterfeit N95s from a Florida company. 3M sued and eventually won an injunction.
The news of the federal investigation into the counterfeit N95s comes when several Washington state hospitals discovered their stockpiles of masks contained counterfeit products.
“It’s an amazing feeling … just to think that there are people … making counterfeit personal protective equipment that we need so badly now during this pandemic,” Cassie Sauer, president of the Washington State Hospital Association, told NBC. News. earlier this week.
3M helped Washington officials confirm that the fake masks had been purchased from an unauthorized distributor unrelated to the company. 3M warns that hospitals and medical clinics should verify that they purchase respirators from a verified, authorized distributor. One way to do that is to visit the company’s website or call the anti-fraud hotline.
Despite concerted efforts to suppress fraudsters and hold them accountable, fake masks continue to pop up in the United States and around the world. “Fake N95s are a serious health risk and I think 3M has been appropriately aggressive in getting them off the street. It’s a game of whack-a-mole though, if you get off one, another one shows up”, said Scott Davis, CEO Melius Research, who has been following 3M’s evolution for several years.
In terms of production, 3M now makes more than 95 million gas masks per month at its US plants in South Dakota and Nebraska. By scaling up production and hiring hundreds of additional workers, including 300 at the South Dakota plant, the company has been able to quadruple production in the past year.
Still, a number of doctors who spoke with CNBC said they still ration masks.
“Getting enough N95s to safely cover healthcare providers is an unsolved challenge, especially for the smaller hospitals and healthcare facilities. Having to negotiate counterfeit products makes it even more fraught and impossible to ensure adequate protection for our front line,” said Dr. Natasha Anushri Anandaraja, who founded Covid Courage, a New York-based non-profit organization that helps health professionals access PPE, including N95s and reusable masks.
Due to the limited supply, Anandaraja said more medical providers are opting for reusable options. “ By giving each healthcare professional their own reusable mask, the constant struggle to find legitimate disposable masks will be eliminated and the need for health professionals to reuse masks that were intended for single use will be eliminated, and healthcare will be hundreds of thousands dollars per year. “