Amazon now sells its in-house designed face shield at cost

A face shield designed by Amazon is now for sale on Amazon.com.

The e-retailer said Tuesday it has already donated 60,000 of these face shields, developed by the company’s Prime Air drone mechanical engineers and hardware teams. By the end of the year, 150,000 more face shields will be donated.

To help meet the demand of medical professionals and the general public, face shields are now for sale at cost on Amazon.com. They’re only available in packs of 25 for a total of $ 66.25, but the company claims it’s a third less than the price of all other reusable face shields for sale to front-line workers.

Face shields were among the rare items at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. To ensure supplies are available to medical workers, Amazon in April restricted sale of N95 masks, gloves and disinfecting wipes. Some items, including surgical gloves, are still restricted for sale on Amazon, while others, like disinfectant wipes, are still hard to find at any retail store.

There have been many innovations, such as Face shields designed by Amazon, to compensate for the shortage of supply. For example, a burgeoning handmade face mask industry has grown on Etsy, and distilleries across the country began making hand sanitizers.

For their face shields, the Amazon team adapted the design of a model created by a nonprofit 3D printing group in Washington state. Prime Air engineers worked with the 3D printing group to make the shields reusable and more comfortable for healthcare workers. The face shield design has been approved by the National Institutes of Health.

Amazon said it has made its design available to anyone through open source design software, so it can be done using 3D printing or injection molding.

In addition to mask donations, Amazon this month donated $ 10 million in personal protective equipment to food banks and clinics.

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