Pax Med was founded at the height of the 2020 global pandemic, when the United States struggled to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) not just to our fellow citizens but even to frontline workers. The fact that nurses, doctors, EMTs, dentists, technicians, and other care givers were forced to wear makeshift PPE was not acceptable. When leading providers of PPE in China turned inward to help their own country and began limiting exports, a group of local businessmen in Maryland stepped up and started a PPE manufacturer to lend a hand—and Pax Med was formed.

If anything, the global pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV2 virus has taught us that supply chains are fragile and virtually overnight a wealthy country like the United States can be thrown into disarray—especially during times of emergencies. We know that preparation and stockpiling will not be able to solve these types of crises. Only through rethinking how we all do business and manufacturing critical supplies close to home can we ever hope to avoid the same situation that everyone found themselves—all around the world—at the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak.