the mechanical ventilator is designed for use by trained medical professionals in intensive care units and easy to operate. it has a compact design and is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and distribute. the cost is only about 4% of a normal ventilator. in addition, this device does not require pressurized oxygen or air supply, as is normally the case. a first series is manufactured by boston scientific. the plans are to be freely available online to the general public without royalties. covid-19 pandemic the covid-19 pandemic has led to shortages of essential goods and services - from hand sanitizers to masks to beds to ventilators. countries around the world have experienced shortages of ventilators. furthermore, fifty-four governments, including many in europe and asia, imposed restrictions on medical supply exports in response to the coronavirus pandemic. the capacities to produce and distribute invasive and non-invasive ventilators vary by country. in the initial phase of the pandemic, china ramped up its production of ventilators, secured large amounts of donations from private firms, and dramatically increased imports of medical devices worldwide. as a result, the country accumulated a reservoir of ventilators throughout the pandemic in wuhan. western europe and the united states, which outrank china in their production capacities, suffered a shortage of supplies due to the sudden and scattered outbreaks throughout the north american and european continents. finally, central asia, africa, and latin america, which depend almost entirely on importing ventilators, suffered severe shortages of supplies. healthcare policy-makers have met serious challenges to estimate the number of ventilators needed and used during the pandemic. when data is often not available for ventilators specifically, estimates are sometimes made based on the number of intensive care unit beds available, which often contain ventilators. united states in 2006, president george w. bush signed the pandemic and all-hazards preparedness act, which created the biomedical advanced research and development authority (barda) within the united states department of health and human services. in preparation for a possible epidemic of respiratory disease, the newly created office awarded a $6 million contract to newport medical instruments, a small company in california, to make 40,000 ventilators for under $3,000 apiece. in 2011, newport sent three prototypes to the centers for disease control. in 2012, covidien, a $12 billion/year medical device manufacturer, which manufactured more expensive competing ventilators, bought newport for $100 million. covidien delayed and in 2014 cancelled the contract. barda started over again with a new company, philips, and in july 2019, the fda approved the philips ventilator, and the government ordered 10,000 ventilators for delivery in mid-2020. on april 23, 2020, nasa reported building, in 37 days, a successful covid-19 ventilator, named vital ("ventilator intervention technology accessible locally"). on april 30, nasa reported receiving fast-track approval for emergency use by the united states food and drug administration for the new ventilator. on may 29, nasa reported that eight manufacturers were selected to manufacture the new ventilator. nasa vital ventilatorengineering teamfront viewside viewstacks of ventilator prototypes canada on april 7, 2020, prime minister justin trudeau announced that the canadian federal government would be sourcing thousands of 'made in canada' ventilators. a number of organisations responded from across the country. they delivered a large quantity of ventilators to the national emergency strategic stockpile. from west to east, the companies include canadian emergency ventilators inc, bayliss medical inc, thornhill medical, vexos inc, and cae inc.