The White House has announced that will indefinitely put a pause on its distribution of at-home COVID-19 tests on Friday due to insufficient congressional funding. A spokesperson for the Biden administration told NBC News that the federal supply of at-home COVID-19 tests is being depleted and a reserve of tests must be kept on hand for a potential fall surge. Members of the Biden administration are calling for Congress to approve more funding to continue the distribution of at-home COVID-19 tests.
“We have warned that Congressional inaction would force unacceptable tradeoffs and harm our overall COVID-19 preparedness and response—and that the consequences would likely worsen over time,” a White House official told CNN.
“Unfortunately, because of the limited funding we have to work with, we have had to make impossible choices about which tools and programs to invest in—and which ones we must downsize, pause, or end altogether.”
U.S. citizens in need of at-home tests are encouraged to continue ordering them via covidtests.gov. Orders can be placed through September 2, 2022.
PSA: If you haven’t used up the free USPS at home Covid tests for your household yet, you should do so this week. “Ordering through this program will be suspended on Friday, September 2 because Congress hasn’t provided additional funding”https://t.co/dKVYxEMKdS
— Dr Kathleen Bachynski (@bachyns) August 28, 2022
