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First of 500 million home Covid-19 tests will go out later this month, US HHS official says
From CNN's Jamie Gumbrecht
Dawn O'Connell, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the US Department of Health and Human Services, is seen during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to examine the federal response to Covid-19 and new emerging variants on January 11 at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Greg Nash/Pool/AFP/Getty Images)
The first of 500 million Covid-19 tests the Biden administration plans to send directly to Americans will go out later this month, and the rest will be shipped over the next 60 days, Dawn O’Connell, the assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the US Department of Health and Human Services, said during a Senate hearing on Tuesday.
O’Connell noted that they’ve completed four contracts and secured 50 million tests “and are in the process of securing the additional tests over the next several days.”
For the first tests shipping out, they worked with warehouses to find where tests were stored “and are bringing that capacity to bear for these initial tests that are going out, which is why you're seeing contracts with warehouses and not with test manufacturers,” O’Connell said.
HHS is working through the Department of Defense to purchase tests, O’Connell said, because it’s able to work “extraordinarily quickly.” The US Postal Service is lined up to deliver the tests and the US Digital Service will help build the website where people can request tests.
O’Connell said outreach to Covid-19 test manufacturers began as cases from the Omicron variant began to surge in South Africa and Europe, and they have been meeting “daily with them to make sure that they have what they need from their suppliers.”
A $3 billion investment in the fall increased manufacturing staffing, which increased available over-the-counter tests from 46 million per month in October to 300 million available now, O’Connell said, acknowledging “that’s not enough.”
From CNN's Jamie Gumbrecht
Dawn O'Connell, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the US Department of Health and Human Services, is seen during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to examine the federal response to Covid-19 and new emerging variants on January 11 at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Greg Nash/Pool/AFP/Getty Images)
The first of 500 million Covid-19 tests the Biden administration plans to send directly to Americans will go out later this month, and the rest will be shipped over the next 60 days, Dawn O’Connell, the assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the US Department of Health and Human Services, said during a Senate hearing on Tuesday.
O’Connell noted that they’ve completed four contracts and secured 50 million tests “and are in the process of securing the additional tests over the next several days.”
For the first tests shipping out, they worked with warehouses to find where tests were stored “and are bringing that capacity to bear for these initial tests that are going out, which is why you're seeing contracts with warehouses and not with test manufacturers,” O’Connell said.
HHS is working through the Department of Defense to purchase tests, O’Connell said, because it’s able to work “extraordinarily quickly.” The US Postal Service is lined up to deliver the tests and the US Digital Service will help build the website where people can request tests.
O’Connell said outreach to Covid-19 test manufacturers began as cases from the Omicron variant began to surge in South Africa and Europe, and they have been meeting “daily with them to make sure that they have what they need from their suppliers.”
A $3 billion investment in the fall increased manufacturing staffing, which increased available over-the-counter tests from 46 million per month in October to 300 million available now, O’Connell said, acknowledging “that’s not enough.”
