US to offer free COVID-19 tests again beginning in September
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Key takeaways:
- The federal government will distribute free at-home COVID-19 tests starting in mid-September.
- The CDC identified funds to help uninsured and underinsured people receive updated COVID-19 vaccines this fall.
The federal government will once again be distributing free at-home COVID-19 tests to households across the country starting next month, health officials announced Friday.
Dawn O’Connell, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at HHS, said during a telebriefing that up to four at-home COVID-19 tests per household will be available to order free of charge in late September from covidtest.gov.
In addition to restarting the free at-home tests program, officials said more than $62 million has been identified for distribution to state and local health authorities and organizations to purchase updated COVID-19 vaccines for people who are uninsured or underinsured. The FDA greenlit new, updated COVID-19 vaccines for the fall and winter respiratory season on Thursday.
The announcement of the new funding for vaccine distribution came during the last month of the CDC’s $1.1 billion Bridge Access Program, which provided free COVID-19 vaccines to uninsured people but was scrapped due to budget cuts.
CDC Director Mandy K. Cohen, MD, MPH, noted during Friday’s telebriefing with officials from the CDC, FDA and HHS that COVID-19 activity remains high across the country, but that has not translated to similar increases in ED visits, hospitalizations or deaths. It appears the U.S. is nearing or at the peak of a summer surge, she said.
“This is a similar trend that we saw last summer as well,” Cohen said. “So, while the [SARS-CoV-2] virus continues to mutate and change, and change faster than the flu virus, our underlying immunity from prior vaccines and prior infections provides some protection, but we know that protection decreases over time and that certain groups will be at higher risk.”
It will be the seventh round of free COVID-19 tests distributed by the federal government. The tests detect currently circulating variants, according to O’Connell, who noted that since the program started in 2021, more than 1.8 billion tests have been distributed, with about 900 million sent out through the website and another 900 million distributed at in-person community-based locations.
In addition to the free tests, she said patient programs are available for Medicare, Medicaid and uninsured people to help get access to treatments, including nirmatrelvir/ritonavir and molnupiravir, either for free or with copays and other savings methods.
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