Puerto Rico may become a hub or national production center, of medical equipment and drugs. In an effort to bring manufacturing of drugs and medical equipment back to the United States, the federal government is offering incentives to companies in exchange of job creation and capital investment.
Puerto Rico could become the beneficiary of these incentives, since Puerto Rico has the capacity, labor, experience, and infrastructure. The coronavirus pandemic shows that the country needed to rebuild its national manufacturing capacity, especially in the medical industry.
On August, 20, 2020, key representatives from the Trump administration were in Puerto Rico to bring pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the United States.
On August, 31, 2020, the Department of Defense, in coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services, awarded an undefinitized contract action of $10,000,000 to Copan industries Inc. in Puerto Rico, to expand U.S. based industrial production capacity of flock tip swabs. This will help Copan Industries increase their production of swabs to 14.4 million swabs per month, by February 2021, to support domestic COVID-19 testing.
This may be just the beginning for Puerto Rico,, as a manufacturing center and much needed jobs.
