role is to supplement state and local supplies during public health emergencies. Many states have products stockpiled, as well. The supplies, medicines, and devices for life-saving care contained in the stockpile can be used as a short-term stopgap buffer when the immediate supply of adequate amounts of these materials may not be immediately available." Washington State announced on April 5, 2020, that it would return more than 400 ventilators it had received from the Stockpile "... to help states facing higher numbers of COVID-19 cases." On April 8, 2020, HHS contracted with DuPont for 2.25 million Tyvek suits to be delivered to the SNS to be used as PPE for frontline healthcare workers. By April 13, 2020, HHS used the Defense Production Act (DPA) to contract for ventilator production with General Electric, Hill-Rom, Medtronic, ResMed, and Vyaire. Additionally, they contracted with Hamilton and Zoll for ventilator production without using the DPA. The seven contracts were expected to produce 137,431 ventilators by the end of 2020 at a total cost of $1.435 billion. Biden administration In January 2022, amidst a surge in cases caused by the more contagious Omicron variant, the CDC updated its guidance to emphasize the greater protection from wearing N95 masks in indoor public spaces. The Biden Administration announced it would distribute 400 million N95 masks from the SNS which started arriving in late January and early February. 2022 monkeypox outbreak The stockpile was again used during the 2022 monkeypox outbreak. In May 2022, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed the United States released some of their Jynneos monkeypox vaccine supply from their Strategic National Stockpile for people who are "high-risk". On May 27, 2022, the CDC specified the indications for the Jynneos vaccine: research laboratory personnel, clinical laboratory personnel performing diagnostic testing for orthopoxviruses, designated response team members, and health care personnel who administer live smallpox Vaccine or care for patients infected with orthopoxviruses. Criticism In March of 2021, the New York Times alleged mismanagement involving the Strategic National Stockpile, stating, "In one telling example, The Times found, the government approved a plan in 2015 to buy tens of millions of N95 respirators — lifesaving equipment for medical workers that has been in short supply because of Covid-19 — but the masks repeatedly lost out in the competition for funding over the years leading up to the pandemic, according to five former federal health officials involved