- Amazon has a new section on its website where hospitals and government organizations can shop for COVID-19 supplies.
- The general public will not be able to buy these items.
- They include N95 masks, large batches of hand sanitizer, and hospital gowns.
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Amazon has a new section on its site reserved exclusively for hospitals and government organizations to shop for urgent COVID-19 supplies.
Here, these parties will be able to find protective wear such as face shields, N95 masks, and gloves, along with other items such as thermometers, hand sanitizer, and ventilators. Vox was first to report on the news.
Amazon explained on a FAQ page that these supplies would be available on a "first-come, first-served basis," and that inventory would be "very limited." The selection will be updated as hospitals and government organizations come to Amazon with requests for new products that they need urgently.
Amazon also said that it would not make a profit from these items and that it would waive all referral fees for third-party sellers that are supplying the products.
A spokesperson for Amazon did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment but confirmed in a statement to CNBC that the general public would not be able to buy certain medical supplies on its site. This includes items like N95 masks and COVID-19 diagnostic kits that are urgently needed by hospitals and healthcare workers.
Amazon has been making a series of changes to prioritize the delivery of more urgent items. In March, it informed vendors that it would be temporarily halting shipments of nonessential items to its warehouses in order to prioritize items such as household staples and medical supplies.
Despite the changes, some Amazon warehouse workers said that it still feels like business as usual. In recent conversations with Insider's Paulina Cachero, a group of these workers expressed frustrations about Amazon continuing to deliver nonessential items to customers, saying that it was unnecessarily putting their lives at risk.
