Biden administration will restart free at-home COVID-19 test program

The Biden administration next month will relaunch a program for every American to order free COVID-19 tests through the mail, officials said.

Administration officials said during a briefing Friday that households will be able to order four free tests through the Covidtests.gov website once it launches again in late September. The tests will be mailed directly to people’s homes.

“These tests will help families and their loved ones stay safe this fall and winter season,” said Dawn O’Connell, the assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

O’Connell said this is the seventh time over the past three years the administration has made free tests available for all Americans.  

The announcement comes the day after the administration approved updated COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, as the U.S. deals with a summer surge of infections tied to different variants. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends everyone 6 months and older get an updated COVID-19 vaccine and the updated flu vaccine. 

In addition to free tests, O’Connell said the antiviral Paxlovid will be available for free for people on Medicare and Medicaid, and for those who are uninsured, through the end of 2024.  

From 2025-28, manufacturer Pfizer will continue to run a patient assistance program for individuals who are uninsured or underinsured with HHS-procured Paxlovid.  

In parallel, Pfizer will operate a copay assistance program for individuals with commercial insurance through 2028. 

Merck will also run a patient assistance program for its anti-viral drug Lagevrio for the uninsured. Both drugs are used to treat COVID-19 infections in people at risk of severe infection and hospitalization. 

The virus typically spreads at higher levels in the winter, but this summer has seen a spike in infections much larger than in recent years. 

Still, CDC Director Mandy Cohen told reporters the increased viral activity “is not translating into similar increases in emergency visits and hospitalizations or deaths,” due to people’s immunity from prior vaccinations, infections or both. 

“So while the COVID 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,” Cohen said. “But we know that protection decreases over time, and certain groups continue to be at higher risk from COVID and other viruses, and we need to continue to protect ourselves and our loved ones.” 

Cohen said the severity of COVID-19 is looking similar to flu, but COVID-19 is still more dangerous.  

Officials said they are recommending annual COVID-19 shots to align with flu shots because they want to make sure people are getting vaccinated.  

“If you have someone in the office, and you can get them to get a COVID-19 vaccine while they’re getting their flu vaccine, and we get that immunity into them, that is probably better, even than what we have now, which is people who haven’t had a COVID-19 vaccine for one or two years,” said Peter Marks, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. 

“Even though COVID is not the flu, being able to get that shot in the arm is what we really need to have happen,” Marks said.