The U.S. government is relaunching a program to provide free at-home Covid-19 tests to Americans.
Each household can request four free tests starting this Monday, September 25, at the following link: https://www.covid.gov/tests. Just fill out a small form with your name and address, which should take less than 30 seconds.
The U.S. government has sent out more than 755 million free Covid-19 tests to people who requested them through Covidtests.gov. The program was suspended in May after the end of the Covid-19 public health emergency to preserve supply.
The tests that will be available starting this Monday must be used by the end of 2023 and will include instructions on how to check for extended expiration dates, said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The expiration dates of many at-home Covid-19 tests have been extended well beyond what is printed on the packaging.
The HHS also announced $600 million for 12 U.S. Covid-19 test manufacturers to strengthen manufacturing capacity and purchase about 200 million Covid-19 tests for federal government use. The funding will go to manufacturers in New Jersey, California, Texas, Washington, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.
Covid-19 hospitalizations have been rising in the United States since July, with weekly admissions now more than triple what they were two months ago. More than 20,500 people in the U.S. were hospitalized with Covid-19 during the week ending September 9, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – about 8% more than the previous week.
Updated Vaccine Now Available
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has greenlit updated booster shots of the Covid vaccine from Pfizer and Moderna. The vaccine, formulated to target the XBB.1.5 subvariant, is now available.
Anyone aged 6 months or older can receive an updated booster dose from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated previously, the FDA said in a statement on September 11. People who have just received any dose of the vaccine should wait at least two months before getting the new booster.
Covid-19 vaccines are 100% free for all individuals living in the United States – even if they are uninsured.
Source: CNN