78,000 pounds of infant formula arrives in U.S.

Specialty infant formula for more than half a million baby bottles arrived in Indianapolis on Sunday.

The formula, weighing 78,000 pounds, was being transported by a military plane as President Joe Biden flew from South Korea to Japan.

The flights were authorized by Biden.

Tom Vilsack was in Indianapolis to greet the first shipment.

The Biden administration has struggled to address a nationwide shortage of formula and has dubbed the effort "Operation Fly Formula."

The White House said that there would be 132 pallets of Health Science Alfamino Infant and Alfamino Junior formula leaving Ramstein Air Base in Germany for the U.S. The three formulas are expected to arrive this week and are for children with cow's milk allergy.

Indianapolis is a distribution hub. The formula will be loaded into FedEx semitractor-trailers and taken to a Nestle distribution center about a mile away where the company will do a standard quality control check before distributing the supplies to hospitals, pharmacies and doctor's offices, according to an administration official on site.

Air Force planes are transporting the initial batches of formula because no commercial flights were available this weekend.

Brian Deese, director of the White House National Economic Council, said Sunday that the flight was the first of several that would provide some relief in the coming days.

Reese told CNN that Sunday's flight brought 15% of the specialty medical grade formula needed in the U.S., and because of various actions by the government, people should see.

He said that the U.S. needs more formula providers so that no individual company has control over supply chains.

The Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services can ask the Department of Defense to pick up overseas infant formula that complies with U.S. health and safety standards.

Alfamino is available through hospitals and home health care companies.

Abbott Nutrition hopes to have its Michigan plant reopened next week, but it will take about two months before product is ready for delivery. The baby formula shortage has left store shelves empty of some brands and some retailers rationing supply for parents nervous about feeding their children, so the FDA has made it easier to import baby formula.