Kansas Senator Jerry Moran said Thursday he is asking for more information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services about the cancellation of a contract with a Wichita facility for the production of medical ventilators.

Moran visited the Spirit AeroSystems Vanguard Facility at 7727 West Harry on a trip that was scheduled before the government announced its decision.  He said he is working to arrange a visit with HHS Secretary Alex Azar.  He said the loss of a contract that would reduce unemployment in Wichita is troublesome, and he said he has learned that there is still a demand for ventilators, especially around the world.   Moran said the United States Agency for International Development, an arm of the State Department, has opportunities to save lives across the globe.  He said USAID has purchased ventilators from the Spirit facility.

Moran said he wants to make sure that HHS fulfills its contract for the ventilators.   He said “There’s an awfully good argument that it would make a lot more economic and health care sense if we continue to manufacture the ventilators here, because the federal government is under contract to pay for most of what has already been done.”

Moran expressed thanks to the Spirit workers for their efforts to help save lives during the coronavirus pandemic.   He was joined in the visit by Wichita mayor Brandon Whipple and Sedgwick County commission chairman Pete Meitzner.

Spirit AeroSystems president and CEO Tom Gentile said the Vanguard Facility is producing 500 ventilators per day, and it employs over 1,000 workers who otherwise would have been laid off after the downturn in commercial aviation.   Gentile said as aircraft production resumes and the 737 MAX is allowed back into service, employees will be moved back into aviation programs.    He said over 12,000 ventilators have been shipped from the facility in less than three months.   The ventilators are being manufactured in a partnership with Vyaire, a medical equipment firm.