Once again, the federal government will provide free COVID-19 test kits to people across the U.S. in preparation for the upcoming respiratory virus season during the fall and winter months, health officials announced Friday.
The site COVIDtest.gov will begin taking orders in late September, said Dawn O’Connell, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Americans can order up to four tests per household to be sent directly to their homes for free.
“Don’t forget to use these free tests when you’re concerned that you or your loved one may have COVID,” O’Connell said. “They will do no one any good sitting in your medicine cabinet.”
She said this is the seventh time the administration has provided free tests to Americans, with about 1.9 billion home tests distributed through the program in partnership with the U.S. Postal Service.
The announcement comes a day after the Food and Drug Administration approved the updated COVID-19 vaccine formulation from Pfizer and Moderna, which are expected to arrive at distribution sites across the country in the coming days. This year’s doses are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for everyone 6 months and older and will target the JN.1 subvariant KP.2.
To prepare for the upcoming season, the CDC will also distribute $62 million of “unused vaccine contract money” to local and state health departments to provide updated vaccines to people who are uninsured and underinsured, an agency spokesperson said.
The funding likely aims to help cover the loss of the $1.1 billion Bridge Access Program which ends Aug. 31. That program allowed uninsured and underinsured people in the U.S. to get free COVID-19 vaccines, providing 1.5 million people with shots after it launched last September.
Contributing: Karen Weintraub, USA TODAY. Adrianna Rodriguez can be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: US to offer free at-home COVID-19 tests starting late September
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