Amazon to mass-produce face shields, make available at-cost online for frontline workers and general customers amid COVID-19 pandemic

Amazon announced in a company blog Thursday it will start mass-producing face shields and list them at-cost on Amazon.com in the next few weeks.

The company hopes to make hundreds of thousands available over the next few weeks and said it will list them at a "significantly lower price," almost a third of the cost. It will also prioritize frontline workers.

RELATED: Coronavirus Deaths: Nursing home worker, UIC nurse die of COVID-19 while serving on front lines

Frontline healthcare workers continue to be among the victims of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The idea stems from Amazon engineers working with a 3D printing community group in Washington.

The shields are National Institutes of Health-approved and available via an open source license for 3D printing and injection molding.

Amazon has donated 10,000 face shields so far and will deliver another 20,000 in the coming weeks.